The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Thirty: Reborn?

(Sam)

We all ended up sleeping over at Mike's house. Sage and Kento slept on either the couch or the futon while the six of us girls were split between two empty bedrooms. Rona and I bunked with Cara, mainly because I wanted to check on her eyes every so often.

Sage and I hadn't been able to fully heal her eyes. She wasn't seeing smudges and blotches of color- she could define shapes- but she said that her eyes hurt every so often. We figured it was eye strain, so that meant glasses. Cara didn't seem to mind that at all, which was probably good. This was better than what she had, any ways.

As far as proving she'd changed, Anubis took her armor orbe and said he was going to hold it for a week as part of her "test". Basically, we still had a shadow of a doubt, and we just wanted to be absolutely sure she was an ally before we did anything too drastic.

Rona, Cara and I spent the night trying to bring peace between at least us. I was pretty sure she'd changed sides for good, and I think Rona was, too, but we were just trying to make friends. Cara seemed to like being with the Senshi. "You girls are so much nicer than Anubra and the others."

"Oh?" I asked.

"They usually just ignored each other. And me. It was so, cold," said Cara. She sighed. "I never like it but I didn't argue. I was angry about what happened and I guess, I guess it was a poor choice."

"Everyone makes mistakes, but we forgive you," said Rona. "What happened to you was very harsh and you wanted healing. You just looked for it in the wrong place. Now let's all get some sleep. Tomorrow we need to figure out how to rescue that last guy, Cye."

"Trulpa did a lot of planning to capture those three in the first place. It won't be an easy rescue," said Cara. She looked at the floor. "How do we do it?"

"You, Kento, and Sage know the Dynasty moderately well," I said. "Surely you could help us find him before Trulpa does something really nasty to him, right?"

"Yes, perhaps. But I don't think Trulpa is going to just throw him in one of the regular dungeons. We'll have to travel deep in her castle if we're going to find him," said Cara, who was looking very serious. "As I said, she worked hard to capture those that she did capture. She isn't going to let them go that easily."

"Don't worry about it. Trulpa's a manipulating wench that needs to be taught a lesson!" said Rona.

"I'm so glad you put it that way," I said, only half-joking. I turned back to Cara. "You do realize we will be suspicious of you for a while."

"And understand our reasons are pretty darn valid," said Rona. "You were our enemy this morning. It'll take a while before we all accept you as our ally. We will, eventually, but you have to earn out trust."

"Rona!" I said. "You shouldn't-"

"I understand your distrust to the fullest," said Cara. "Let's sleep, then we'll all talk tomorrow morning."

~

The following morning, the lot of us was gathered in the dining room chowing down on pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, and all the other traditional breakfast foods. Cara seemed to enjoy the food, while Sage looked more than pleased with the meal. I didn't blame him. This was the first time he'd really gotten a chance to enjoy a meal as a free man for a long time.

Kento was just. . . stuffing his face.

"Sage, does he always eat like that?" asked Anubis, staring at Kento in awe. "The boy isn't staving by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, SIX waffles? AND three pancakes. AND bacon and eggs?"
"Yup."

"This is normal?"

"Absolutely."

"Why?"

"I dunno, fast metabolism?"

I shook my head as the monk and the Ronin Warrior of Halo had their, um, discussion. Kento just continued to happily eat. It wasn't like he stuck his head in it and had pancake and maple syrup all over his face, but it was a rather large plate, even for a guy his size.

"So, Kento, are you sure you're not pregnant?" asked Ria.

Kento nearly choked on his waffles as the table suddenly became eerily quiet. All eyes turned to Kento, whose eyes had suddenly dilated to about twice their normal size. "Excuse me!?" he asked.

Our leader just calmly shrugged as she took another bite of her pancakes. She chewed, swallowed, and continued on as if her question was completely normal. "Hey, pregnant women eat a lot, so I was just wondering," said Ria.

"One, I'm a guy- I don't have of the mechanics needed to CARRY a child. Two, I've never had sex in my entire life," he said. As an afterthought, he cleared his throat and began again. "No offense to any one who might have. Three, I think your mind is in the gutter, Ria."

"We all know that," I said, rolling my eyes. Then, I got an idea. Maybe I could push the joke out just a LITTLE bit further and really get him mad. "You know, in theory, if he was a hermaphrodite-"

"Let's leave the conversation where it is and NOT go any further," said Sage.

"What's a hermaphrodite?" asked Cara.

"I'll explain later," I said, holding back a laugh. Kento looked REALLY offended and shot me a hurt look. "Sorry, I'm as bad as Ria sometimes on saying what's on my mind."

"And BOY does she have some interesting thoughts," said Sara.

The sound of a door opening and closing soon came into the kitchen. "Mike and Sue Lee are finally home. Where'd they go, anyways?" asked Rona, neatly slicing up more of her waffles.

"Some overnight field trip," said Anubis. As if on cue, Sue Lee darted in, hugged Anubis, and when she saw me and Rona, made a huge fuss. She hadn't even noticed Sage or Cara yet. Sage smiled as Sue Lee's excited demeanor and sighed heavily.

"Reminds you of Yuli, huh?" asked Kento.

"Oh yeah," said Sage. "She's got the same energy he has."

After Sue Lee finally noticed Sage and started asking if he was my twin brother (Kento nearly spit his orange juice clear across the table after that one), I noticed Cara staring at Mike oddly. Mike had a strange look on his face as well.

"Um, hi," he said.

"Uh, hello," said Cara nervously. All eyes were now on Mike for his answer.

"Have we met before?" he asked. Our heads turned back to Cara.

"Rinji?" she asked. We turned back to Mike. He looked absolutely dumbfounded.

"That name. . . it sounds familiar but, I know I've never heard it before. And I know I feel like I've known you for a long time," he said.

I tapped Rona's shoulder. "Wasn't Rinji the name of Cara's fiancé? The one that got killed?" I whispered.

"I think so. This is weird," said Rona.

"Um, Mike, this is Cara. I have no idea why she's mistaken you for Rinji but-" started Anubis.

"Now I know where I've seen you! Ever since I was in junior high I kept having the same dream about you, but it was in some sort of an oriental village. You were wearing this white, fancy kimono and we were sitting in the woods. But the dream always ended when this ugly lizard thing-"

"-pounced on you and ended things," she said. "Oh Rinji, you've been reborn!"

"Reborn?" asked Mike. Before he knew it Cara was hugging him, her face buried in his chest. Mike had a completely bewildered look on his face. Anubis looked almost embarrassed. Kento coughed and excused himself to go out back. Sage followed.

"I'd say things just got a little more interesting," said Ria.

~

After Cara and Mike sat down for a while, Mike began to remember bits and pieces from his past life as Rinji. But even as the rest of us eavesdropped-err, spied- err, um, checked on them, we could tell that Mike was beginning to remember the old emotions too.

"Think it's real?" asked Sara.

"He's mentioned this dream to me before. It is," said Anubis.

"This is so sickeningly sweet, I think that I'm either going to cry or hurl," said Kento.

Keisha shot him a look and he flushed, a little embarrassed. Sage snickered, only to get elbowed by the other Ronin Warrior. The rest of us just sighed and left the room.

But I lingered behind. I couldn't help but watch them. Was this what love looked like? All this talking and remembering? It wasn't where the man beat the woman for not doing something right? It wasn't about animalistic love making to produce a dozen children? It wasn't all about kissing and flirting?

"C'mon, Sam, let's leave 'em some privacy."

I turned to see Sage was signaling for me to leave them alone. "Is that what it's like?" I whispered.

"Sometimes," he said. "But what really matters is whether or not Cara loves Mike and Mike loves Cara. If they don't share that, then the relationship has no point."

I nodded. "My parents were never like that."

"There was no love in that relationship, Sam," said Sage. "You'll find it someday. Someday some lucky guy will sweep you off your feet and you'll understand that you shouldn't fear for your life if you ever marry." He then took my hand, kissed it, and walked away, leaving me dumbfounded, confused, and unsure of why my stomach was suddenly full of butterflies. I stole one last glance at Mike and Cara, then saw that Kento was attacking the last of the Cape Cod Potato Chips and went to defend to my snack.