Ashura did not understand what the armor wanted from him. He was
certain the thing that he received was a mystical armor because of the
dreams that came to him after he obtained the armor and increased when he
neared Japan. Through the dreams, he learned how to wear the armor and how
to use it, but he never learned for what purpose it was intended. Then, he
started to feel a need to travel somewhere. After the Japanese cargo was
packed for the return trip to China, Ashura told his boss about the armor,
the dreams, and the sensation to travel deeper into Japan.
Mizu sighed and concluded, "That armor's certainly not cursed and since you have it, you're important somehow." Mizu grumbled to himself; he hated losing workers. However, he told Ashura, "Go and do whatever it is that you have to do in Japan."
Ashura obeyed and left during the same day. He traveled uneasily, not knowing where he was going. Although he enjoyed journeying over Japan, his first duty was to Mizu aboard the cargo ship. Had he been more educated about the Ronin Warrior Legend, he would consider fighting evil to be his foremost duty and leave without worries. Unfortunately, even Chinese nobility were not well versed in the legend and any thought of the Ronin Warriors never entered their minds.
When he arrived at the temple of the Ancient One, Ashura learned that he was now a Ronin Warrior. His armor was Hardrock with the element of earth and virtue of Justice. He also learned what little the Ancient One knew of the approaching threat. He also met the bearers of the seasonal armors. Kuroda Jiguro had the Autumn armor. Koma Toshiten had the Spring armor. Sasaki Idoju had the Winter armor and Yamanouchi Nazaka had the Summer armor. Everyone, with the exception of Jiguro, arrived at the Ancient's temple in the same manner as Ashura - already with their armor and experiencing the same dreams and sensations to travel. Ashura instantly befriended Idoju because the bearer of the Winter armor also came from a noble family. The Ronin Warriors frequently practiced using their armors while the Ancient One meditated in his temple and searched for bearers for the other armors.
About a week after Ashura's arrival, Nazaka announced to the group, "There's another person coming. Everyone take off your armors!" The Summer armor, with the virtue of Piety, gave Nazaka a somewhat empathic ability.
Everyone obeyed and stared in the direction that Nazaka looked at expectantly. A man with severely disheveled brown hair appeared wearing several layers of ragged clothes. Only his eyes hinted that he had Japanese blood. The strange newcomer eyed the group curiously.
"You ain't monks, are ya?" the newcomer asked in annoyance. When everyone replied in the negative, he asked, "Well, does a monk live here? I was visit'n a priest in the Dateki area and he told me a monk near here has a job for me."
The Ancient One stepped out of his temple and asked the newcomer, "Are you Dateki Shiro?"
"Yeah."
"The Dateki priest told me that your skills would be valuable. Come in. I remember meeting you when I visited the Dateki temple many years ago. Are you familiar with the legend of the Ronin Warriors?"
Walking towards the Ancient One's temple, Shiro glanced warily at the others and answered when he entered, "Yeah, I know the legend. I don't believe it. I ain't much of a religious man and that thing is tied into too many religions."
The group quickly ran towards the door to hear what was happening. Unfortunately, the two occupants were silent. Quietly, the group peered in through the door. The Ancient One opened the small chamber that once contained all nine Ronin armors. The group barely saw a small armor orb float into Shiro's cupped hands.
Shiro removed his gaze from the armor orb and glared at the Ancient One. "Why me?"
"Because you are the most worthy."
"No. People - they expect me to do manual labor so that's all I do!"
"You are clever, methodical and thoughtful. You are perfect for the armor."
Shiro backed away, terrified of the Ancient One and the thing in his hands. Then he slumped down against the wall and stared at the armor orb.
The Ancient One remained for a few moments. Sadly, he did not know how to console the poor newcomer. He did not want to risk lives by making people wear the Ronin armors, but he had no choice in the matter. Shiro had to obey his fate. The Ancient One, obeying his fate, left to find more people to wear the remaining armors.
The group then felt ashamed for eavesdropping and they pitied the newcomer. Hoping to comfort him somehow, they entered the temple and approached them.
Shiro looked up and showed them the green armor orb. "This says 'wisdom.' Now, do I look wise to y'all?"
Nazaka replied, "Appearances can be deceiving."
Shiro sighed and grumbled to himself, "Right when I think people stop believ'in that."
Out of ideas of how to break through Mitoma Hitomaro's guards, Hariel decided to visit the Sanada ninja clan. The clan welcomed him with the usual tolerance. Only his children greeted him warmly. He spent the day with his eldest sons and at night, he went into Tazuri's room. Tazuri was the mother of several of his eldest children with the exception of his third son and second daughter.
"I heard you tell your sons about the Ronin Warrior legend," said Tazuri to Hariel. "For what reason?" She was skeptical and doubtful that he had any good intentions for telling the children about the legend.
"It's a popular story nowadays."
The Sanada woman resisted the urge to beat him. Of course Hariel the scoundrel, Hariel the rouge ninja, Hariel the wicked would be concerned with popularity! The Ronin Warriors were not meant to be wanted or spoken of for solely popularity!
Instead of hurting him, Tazuri told him, "There are rumors that the Ronin Warrior prophecy is coming true. Some people claim they saw the Ronin Warriors in full armor." She hoped Hariel would meet the Ronin Warriors, however the reason why eluded even her. What she understood of the reason was that maybe the Ronin Warriors would teach him how to be a gentleman or would at least do something to him.
Hariel laughed, "Thanks, Tazuri!" Everyone had a general idea of where the Ancient's clan used to reside. Strange things were certainly happening in Japan. All of the vicious magical creatures were twice as active and spirits that refused to pass away into the next life were haunting old rivals and causing mischief. Kind people were suddenly violent without cause. Even the weather was bizarre! Perhaps the strange incidents and the arrival of the Ronin Warriors were interlinked somehow. Either way, Hariel had a different reason for visiting the Ronin Warriors than what Tazuri had in mind.
Morhiko always believed in the legend. "When the world is shrouded in darkness, the Ronin Warriors will come to save everyone." However, he never believed that he would be a Ronin Warrior until the storm came. Their fishing boat, his and his brother's, was somehow adrift in the ocean when they felt the first drops of rain. The storm came quickly, but Morhiko thought he could swim to the boat and bring it back before the worst arrived. When he climbed into the boat to sail it home, he was in the middle of the storm and the boat capsized. A dolphin arrived, took him away from the storm, and guided him home after the storm ended. He trusted the dolphin and so the dolphin opened his mouth and gave him the armor of Torrent. Morhiko and his older brother, Idashin, were orphans and only got enough food to survive. Although he wanted to be a Ronin Warrior, he did not want to leave his brother. Nonetheless, he used his armor. Wearing the armor of Torrent, he traveled deep into the ocean and retrieved the boat. It was their only major possession. The practically worthless house was falling apart. When Idashin learned that Morhiko was a Ronin Warrior, he threatened to throw him out onto the streets if he (Morhiko) continued to refuse his duty.
That resulted in him traveling through half of Japan, guided by Torrent. The armor gave him sensations of what direction he should go in, but never told him where he was going. He stopped at taverns, asking people if there were temples nearby. A temple would be his most likely destination. He found a few, but were not what the armor wanted, and moved on. He got closer everyday, but to where?
"Hey, tell a joke about those Ronin Warriors!" a person yelled out across the room of one tavern.
Having developed a habit of thinking people talk personally to and about him when Ronin Warrior was mentioned, Morhiko instantly looked at the person. However, the person did not notice him.
"No! Now get drunk!" the real receiver of the RW comment replied. The new speaker was obviously not of full Japanese descent however; the only real outlandish feature was his hair - plopped on his head like a brown bush with leaves threatening to cover his eyes. His companion at the table was of full Japanese descent, but had ghostly white hair. "I swear," he said to his companion, "Ever'thing offends you, dun't it?"
"Not everything," the companion spoke calmly. Morhiko considered the situation. A person with white hair obviously had either magical powers or superior skills. Morhiko then saw a strangely disgruntled-looking white tiger lying under the table.
He asked the two, "Um, do you anything about the Ronin Warriors?"
"Yeah, but I can't tell ya," said the person of mixed descent.
"Um, I didn't want to listen to a joke. Is there a temple nearby?"
The two people and the tiger stared at him as though both interested and cautious. Morhiko, afraid, wondered if he said something offensive.
"Yes," the white-haired person said finally at length. "There's a temple nearby. I work at the temple."
"What do you know about the Ronin Warriors?" asked the mixed-descent.
"Um, I know they're supposed to save the world. There's nine o'them. I don't know everything about the armors though."
The white tiger walked over to him. Morhiko instinctively started to cringe, but the tiger was friendly. Sensing that they were worth trusting, he absently petted the tiger's head while talking to the two humans, "I'm Mouri Morhiko. What're your names?"
"I'm Dateki Shiro," said the person of mixed-descent. "The tiger's White Blaze."
The other person introduced himself as Kuroda Jiguro and offered to take him to the temple. Morhiko accepted and when they exited the small town into a forest pathway, he showed them his armor orb. For a brief moment, they simply stared at him. Then, Jiguro pulled out his own armor orb.
"You're one of us."
Along the way to their home, Shiro of Halo informed him that the armors were being worn for the first time and were never previously tested. The nine armors were also the Ancient's first and only attempt to create mystical armors. The Ronin stuff however apparently worked.
They introduced Morhiko to the creator of the armors who they called the Ancient One as a sign of either respect or endearment. The Ancient One summed up the purpose of the Ronin Warriors, which is "protect the world from evil and follow the path of your armor." The prophecy mentioning shrouds of darkness was also moot in this instance since an evil other than the Warriors' true enemy was coming.
Then, Morhiko met all of the other Ronin Warriors.
Karei Ashura of Hardrock, the Ronin Warrior of Justice. Shiro's advice: "He snores awfully loud and is worse than Jiguro."
Koma Toshiten of Spring, the Ronin Warrior of Loyalty. Shiro's exaggerated advice: "He's part plant. Step on a beautyful flower and he'll try ta kill ya."
Sasaki Idoju of Winter, the Ronin Warrior of Obedience. Shiro's true advice: "Really high ninja, but he's also a brother ronin."
Yamanouchi Nazaka of Summer, the Ronin Warrior of Piety. Shiro's really true advice: "Nice and all, but he's too quiet."
Dateki Shiro of Halo was raised by a monk in the Dateki area from where he got his surname. Although he was normally talkative, he rarely discussed his past.
The Ronin Warrior of Life had yet to arrive. If the Ancient One knew about the coming threat sooner, they would have received their armors a long time ago.
There were only three huts and one temple. The Ronin Warriors were crammed into the three huts, with the exception of Jiguro who had his own house. The bearers of Torrent, Strata, and Hardrock were supposed to share one. Shiro's advice about the Chinese sailor proved to be true early on the first night. "Ashura, Ashura, wake up," Morhiko increased his volume and urgent tone. Getting only more oblivious snores, he started to poke the Chinese man awake. "Ashura, wake up!"
The sailor sprang up, ready for battle. "What? Is the Dynasty here? Are we being attacked?" His eyes narrowed as he listened for sounds.
"No!" Morhiko gestured for him to calm down. "I just woke you up to tell ya to sleep on your side. You snore too much."
"Oh, just a trivial thing, then?" Ashura believed the armors were useless against a threat other than the Dynasty.
"Yes," he sighed. Were all Chinese people this serious?
They went back to their own respective beds and Ashura's snoring eventually caused Morhiko to evict himself.
The next day, he met Keiko, Jiguro's sweet-tempered wife. She had a small garden, which provided most of her and her husband's food. Like Jiguro and Keiko, some of the people in the town were survivors of the Ancient's clan who became farmers and workers. They donated the very few otherwise inaccessible supplies to the Ancient One and the Ronin Warriors. The majority of people in the nearby towns and villages remained ignorant of them.
For lunch, Shiro, Nazaka, Ashura and he went to the tavern on the third day after his arrival. Tavern people usually were either skeptical or lacked respect so they were forced to pay. Shiro yelled at Ashura to buy something less expensive.
"That money has limits, ya know..." the bearer of Halo trailed off in conclusion.
"How do you get all this money?" Morhiko inquired. According to the others, they bought food from the tavern for weeks and any savings would be gone by then.
"Reglar ronin jobs," Shiro said. "I gotta keep busy."
They chatted quietly about their armors, different training techniques, and how long until the real prophecy happened. After they received their meals, their waitress (according to Shiro, a whore who wasn't busy with other things which was true) shouted out to her colleagues at the bar, "She got out again! Someone place her back in the room!"
They heard murmurs of "not my brat," "I'm tired," and "so annoying."
Then, they saw a little girl around age six, standing on a stool to look over the bar. Her short matted hair hung down as though confused and her eyes were a mixture of bewilderment, fear and curiosity. The girl's mother obviously quit caring and ignored her.
Shiro scowled, but continued eating; the food muffled his foul words.
Nazaka grumbled, "No one deserves to be raised in a place like this."
"Well, then," also with a grim tone, Ashura started to stand, "We need to free her from this place, correct?"
Morhiko and Shiro gaped at him, surprised.
"What?" Ashura inquired with a smirk. "Not justice to bring life into this world and then neglect that life."
"Yeah, but... hey!" the other three left Shiro struggling to get up at the table. Morhiko chatted with the girl while Ashura and Nazaka talked to her mother.
"Hey, I'm Mouri Morhiko. What's your name?" he asked the child. He heard justice recurring in Ashura's sentences.
"I don't have a name," she replied meekly.
Morhiko swallowed a foul word of his own. He knew children of whores were often neglected like her, but he rarely thought about the concept of abuse. Children deserved better.
"Do you like this place? Do they treat you nice?" he asked her.
She shrugged, "It's kinda scary."
Making himself noticed, Shiro said, "Well, sister, you're going to live with us now. Will ya like that? My name's Dateki Shiro and they're-" he pointed to two approaching people, "Karei Ashura and Yamanouchi Nazaka."
When Morhiko was informed that her mother was all-too willing to get rid of her, he muttered, "I would never abandon a child."
"Yeah," Shiro said, "But now, Ancient'll give us a lecture about picking up strays."
The Ancient One was surprised, but never lectured. She was named "Yuki". Although Jiguro and Keiko agreed to raise Yuki, Shiro and she were officially declared siblings. Two days after Yuki's adoption, the bearer of Strata arrived. Hitomaro was unfortunately isolated from fluffy, beds, servants and the wonderful Japanese classic, The Tale of Genji. Mitoma Hitomaro was also traumatized by Ashura's snoring. Shiro was traumatized by Hitomaro's complaining. After the bearers of Halo and Strata got into a nasty brawl, Shiro sighed and said, "Even old magical monks make mistakes."
Kaosu sensed that the evil's "awakening", "arrival" or "attack" was nearing. However, one armor still needed a bearer.
Sasaki Idoju of the Winter armor, the Ronin Warrior of Obedience, wished his nose would stop itching. Shiro and Toshiten challenged him to a drinking contest at the tavern. Idoju naturally accepted. However, his nose itched, causing his top lip to curl up in frustration and spilling the sake all over himself. He lost instantly. Shiro won, but the side effect left him grinning while groaning with a headache.
"When you've-" the bearer of Halo wheezed, "been a - reglar ronin for as long as - I haf - you're an expert at just about nearly ev'r'thing."
Idoju of Winter nodded. There were few things that Shiro could not do. Lately, Idoju helped Shiro learn martial arts and Shiro helped him perfect his swordsmanship. Perhaps by being a true Ronin Warrior and defeating this vague threat, he would again honor the Sasaki name.
"Well, I never expected to see Takashi's little pet ninja in a tavern," a confident voice leered behind him.
Battle instincts awakened at the sound of an old enemy, Idoju spun around. "Hariel!"
"Oh, yeah. Your lord is dead, isn't he?" The rouge ninja leaned his chair back towards the wall.
Idoju scowled; his muscles clenched. "Why aren't you with lord Nezumi?"
"That job was boring. Unlike you, I only have one person to honor."
"You have no honor for anyone."
"Neither do you," Hariel smirked. "That's why you're just a common lowly ronin. A mere beggar with broken swords."
His scowl deepened as he reached into his pocket. His right hand caressed the armor orb. He had the ability to avenge his lord!
Hariel continued to taunt him. "You lacked the skill to protect your lord and thus dishonored your entire family. You can never be as skilled as I am. All you can do is be a polite, obedient dog which is why you're essentially a worthless, pet ninja."
Pulling his hand out of his pocket, Idoju charged. Toshiten grabbed his arms from the back to restrain him while Shiro blocked the passage to Hariel with his hand over Idoju's.
How interesting. Hariel noted that the person of mixed-descent unsuccessfully attempted to cover what Idoju was holding - a brown orb with an obedience kanji in it. Only the Ronin Warrior Legend described such things. If Idoju was a Ronin Warrior, then the other armors must be nearby. Without a word, he left the tavern and ran towards an area near the village that he did not explore. More than likely, that unexplored place was the home of the Ronin Warriors and he had to hurry if he was to evade Idoju and the two others.
Camouflaged among the leaves, Hariel examined the position of his victims and searched for an evasive route to the (he learned this by listening) armor of Wildfire. He already poured a sleeping potion in their drinking water and needed a way to steal without his enemies knowing who the culprit was. The old man left for some reason. Hitomaro, Ashura, Nazaka, and Jiguro were the only people who would prevent him from attaining his goal. They stopped practicing to cook lunch, fish.
"After this evil is killed, what will all of you do with your armors?" the lord asked, setting down a pail of the intoxicated water. The others began to drink; replying after their turn was over.
"My town is plagued by snake demons," said Nazaka. "One poisoned my father. I'll use my armor to heal everyone and protect my town."
Ashura replied, "With my armor, the world will be safe forever although I personally wish to resume my life as a sailor."
"I suppose I'll just give my armor back to the Ancient One," said Jiguro.
Hitomaro was silent; thinking over something that Hariel cared less about. The stupid white tiger was already asleep. Patience is a virtue. Not perfect virtue, but a virtue nonetheless. They already drank the water with the sleeping potion. After a few moments and a few more drinks, Nazaka raised his hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn. Jiguro and Ashura tried to hold her heads up.
"You are the son of nobility. Why did you become a merchant?" Hitomaro asked the bearer of Hardrock. The lord blinked nearly incessantly, trying to stay awake.
"I travel alot. Being a merchant is harmless occupation yet more exciting than staying at home." Ashura yawned. "A nap would be good." Without even attempting to journey to his hut, he laid down on the ground.
"I suppose that fulfills your life so congratulations." Jiguro and Ashura were already asleep. The remaining two did not feel like talking. Without activity to support them, Hitomaro and Nazaka quickly fell asleep.
Hariel waited a moment to let unconsciousness take complete effect. Then, containing his excitement, he jumped down from his tree and ran towards the Ancient's abode. Suddenly, when he was mere centimeters away from the door, he heard a sound like a muffled earthquake. One earthquake, two earthquakes. The sound was getting louder! Approaching! Hariel sprang into a battle stance with his twin daggers drawn. Then, he suppressed his laughter. The sound was harmless. The stupid bearer of Hardrock was snoring. Smiling, Hariel walked inside to retrieve his prize.
The entrance room contained a table and a bed. Another door was adjacent one of the walls. He opened the door to an extensive closet with a red armor. There was Wildfire in its blazing glory. Hariel caressed the armor. This was Wildfire, the most powerful of all the armors. Wildfire was now his armor. Then, gently after some investigation, he separated the helmet from the body of the armor and put the helmet on his own head. He put on the arms manually, but the rest of the armor followed, fitting itself onto him magically.
"YOU ARE NOT WORTHY!!"
A voice! Supernatural! In his head! Trembling, Hariel cowered with his hands over his head until the fear faded away. The voice (or was it a sensation?) left as though it never existed. He breathed deeply to regain his composure. It was meaningless anyway. The armor belonged to him. Now, he could destroy Hitomaro's defenses. Hariel of Wildfire always got what he wanted.
Mizu sighed and concluded, "That armor's certainly not cursed and since you have it, you're important somehow." Mizu grumbled to himself; he hated losing workers. However, he told Ashura, "Go and do whatever it is that you have to do in Japan."
Ashura obeyed and left during the same day. He traveled uneasily, not knowing where he was going. Although he enjoyed journeying over Japan, his first duty was to Mizu aboard the cargo ship. Had he been more educated about the Ronin Warrior Legend, he would consider fighting evil to be his foremost duty and leave without worries. Unfortunately, even Chinese nobility were not well versed in the legend and any thought of the Ronin Warriors never entered their minds.
When he arrived at the temple of the Ancient One, Ashura learned that he was now a Ronin Warrior. His armor was Hardrock with the element of earth and virtue of Justice. He also learned what little the Ancient One knew of the approaching threat. He also met the bearers of the seasonal armors. Kuroda Jiguro had the Autumn armor. Koma Toshiten had the Spring armor. Sasaki Idoju had the Winter armor and Yamanouchi Nazaka had the Summer armor. Everyone, with the exception of Jiguro, arrived at the Ancient's temple in the same manner as Ashura - already with their armor and experiencing the same dreams and sensations to travel. Ashura instantly befriended Idoju because the bearer of the Winter armor also came from a noble family. The Ronin Warriors frequently practiced using their armors while the Ancient One meditated in his temple and searched for bearers for the other armors.
About a week after Ashura's arrival, Nazaka announced to the group, "There's another person coming. Everyone take off your armors!" The Summer armor, with the virtue of Piety, gave Nazaka a somewhat empathic ability.
Everyone obeyed and stared in the direction that Nazaka looked at expectantly. A man with severely disheveled brown hair appeared wearing several layers of ragged clothes. Only his eyes hinted that he had Japanese blood. The strange newcomer eyed the group curiously.
"You ain't monks, are ya?" the newcomer asked in annoyance. When everyone replied in the negative, he asked, "Well, does a monk live here? I was visit'n a priest in the Dateki area and he told me a monk near here has a job for me."
The Ancient One stepped out of his temple and asked the newcomer, "Are you Dateki Shiro?"
"Yeah."
"The Dateki priest told me that your skills would be valuable. Come in. I remember meeting you when I visited the Dateki temple many years ago. Are you familiar with the legend of the Ronin Warriors?"
Walking towards the Ancient One's temple, Shiro glanced warily at the others and answered when he entered, "Yeah, I know the legend. I don't believe it. I ain't much of a religious man and that thing is tied into too many religions."
The group quickly ran towards the door to hear what was happening. Unfortunately, the two occupants were silent. Quietly, the group peered in through the door. The Ancient One opened the small chamber that once contained all nine Ronin armors. The group barely saw a small armor orb float into Shiro's cupped hands.
Shiro removed his gaze from the armor orb and glared at the Ancient One. "Why me?"
"Because you are the most worthy."
"No. People - they expect me to do manual labor so that's all I do!"
"You are clever, methodical and thoughtful. You are perfect for the armor."
Shiro backed away, terrified of the Ancient One and the thing in his hands. Then he slumped down against the wall and stared at the armor orb.
The Ancient One remained for a few moments. Sadly, he did not know how to console the poor newcomer. He did not want to risk lives by making people wear the Ronin armors, but he had no choice in the matter. Shiro had to obey his fate. The Ancient One, obeying his fate, left to find more people to wear the remaining armors.
The group then felt ashamed for eavesdropping and they pitied the newcomer. Hoping to comfort him somehow, they entered the temple and approached them.
Shiro looked up and showed them the green armor orb. "This says 'wisdom.' Now, do I look wise to y'all?"
Nazaka replied, "Appearances can be deceiving."
Shiro sighed and grumbled to himself, "Right when I think people stop believ'in that."
Out of ideas of how to break through Mitoma Hitomaro's guards, Hariel decided to visit the Sanada ninja clan. The clan welcomed him with the usual tolerance. Only his children greeted him warmly. He spent the day with his eldest sons and at night, he went into Tazuri's room. Tazuri was the mother of several of his eldest children with the exception of his third son and second daughter.
"I heard you tell your sons about the Ronin Warrior legend," said Tazuri to Hariel. "For what reason?" She was skeptical and doubtful that he had any good intentions for telling the children about the legend.
"It's a popular story nowadays."
The Sanada woman resisted the urge to beat him. Of course Hariel the scoundrel, Hariel the rouge ninja, Hariel the wicked would be concerned with popularity! The Ronin Warriors were not meant to be wanted or spoken of for solely popularity!
Instead of hurting him, Tazuri told him, "There are rumors that the Ronin Warrior prophecy is coming true. Some people claim they saw the Ronin Warriors in full armor." She hoped Hariel would meet the Ronin Warriors, however the reason why eluded even her. What she understood of the reason was that maybe the Ronin Warriors would teach him how to be a gentleman or would at least do something to him.
Hariel laughed, "Thanks, Tazuri!" Everyone had a general idea of where the Ancient's clan used to reside. Strange things were certainly happening in Japan. All of the vicious magical creatures were twice as active and spirits that refused to pass away into the next life were haunting old rivals and causing mischief. Kind people were suddenly violent without cause. Even the weather was bizarre! Perhaps the strange incidents and the arrival of the Ronin Warriors were interlinked somehow. Either way, Hariel had a different reason for visiting the Ronin Warriors than what Tazuri had in mind.
Morhiko always believed in the legend. "When the world is shrouded in darkness, the Ronin Warriors will come to save everyone." However, he never believed that he would be a Ronin Warrior until the storm came. Their fishing boat, his and his brother's, was somehow adrift in the ocean when they felt the first drops of rain. The storm came quickly, but Morhiko thought he could swim to the boat and bring it back before the worst arrived. When he climbed into the boat to sail it home, he was in the middle of the storm and the boat capsized. A dolphin arrived, took him away from the storm, and guided him home after the storm ended. He trusted the dolphin and so the dolphin opened his mouth and gave him the armor of Torrent. Morhiko and his older brother, Idashin, were orphans and only got enough food to survive. Although he wanted to be a Ronin Warrior, he did not want to leave his brother. Nonetheless, he used his armor. Wearing the armor of Torrent, he traveled deep into the ocean and retrieved the boat. It was their only major possession. The practically worthless house was falling apart. When Idashin learned that Morhiko was a Ronin Warrior, he threatened to throw him out onto the streets if he (Morhiko) continued to refuse his duty.
That resulted in him traveling through half of Japan, guided by Torrent. The armor gave him sensations of what direction he should go in, but never told him where he was going. He stopped at taverns, asking people if there were temples nearby. A temple would be his most likely destination. He found a few, but were not what the armor wanted, and moved on. He got closer everyday, but to where?
"Hey, tell a joke about those Ronin Warriors!" a person yelled out across the room of one tavern.
Having developed a habit of thinking people talk personally to and about him when Ronin Warrior was mentioned, Morhiko instantly looked at the person. However, the person did not notice him.
"No! Now get drunk!" the real receiver of the RW comment replied. The new speaker was obviously not of full Japanese descent however; the only real outlandish feature was his hair - plopped on his head like a brown bush with leaves threatening to cover his eyes. His companion at the table was of full Japanese descent, but had ghostly white hair. "I swear," he said to his companion, "Ever'thing offends you, dun't it?"
"Not everything," the companion spoke calmly. Morhiko considered the situation. A person with white hair obviously had either magical powers or superior skills. Morhiko then saw a strangely disgruntled-looking white tiger lying under the table.
He asked the two, "Um, do you anything about the Ronin Warriors?"
"Yeah, but I can't tell ya," said the person of mixed descent.
"Um, I didn't want to listen to a joke. Is there a temple nearby?"
The two people and the tiger stared at him as though both interested and cautious. Morhiko, afraid, wondered if he said something offensive.
"Yes," the white-haired person said finally at length. "There's a temple nearby. I work at the temple."
"What do you know about the Ronin Warriors?" asked the mixed-descent.
"Um, I know they're supposed to save the world. There's nine o'them. I don't know everything about the armors though."
The white tiger walked over to him. Morhiko instinctively started to cringe, but the tiger was friendly. Sensing that they were worth trusting, he absently petted the tiger's head while talking to the two humans, "I'm Mouri Morhiko. What're your names?"
"I'm Dateki Shiro," said the person of mixed-descent. "The tiger's White Blaze."
The other person introduced himself as Kuroda Jiguro and offered to take him to the temple. Morhiko accepted and when they exited the small town into a forest pathway, he showed them his armor orb. For a brief moment, they simply stared at him. Then, Jiguro pulled out his own armor orb.
"You're one of us."
Along the way to their home, Shiro of Halo informed him that the armors were being worn for the first time and were never previously tested. The nine armors were also the Ancient's first and only attempt to create mystical armors. The Ronin stuff however apparently worked.
They introduced Morhiko to the creator of the armors who they called the Ancient One as a sign of either respect or endearment. The Ancient One summed up the purpose of the Ronin Warriors, which is "protect the world from evil and follow the path of your armor." The prophecy mentioning shrouds of darkness was also moot in this instance since an evil other than the Warriors' true enemy was coming.
Then, Morhiko met all of the other Ronin Warriors.
Karei Ashura of Hardrock, the Ronin Warrior of Justice. Shiro's advice: "He snores awfully loud and is worse than Jiguro."
Koma Toshiten of Spring, the Ronin Warrior of Loyalty. Shiro's exaggerated advice: "He's part plant. Step on a beautyful flower and he'll try ta kill ya."
Sasaki Idoju of Winter, the Ronin Warrior of Obedience. Shiro's true advice: "Really high ninja, but he's also a brother ronin."
Yamanouchi Nazaka of Summer, the Ronin Warrior of Piety. Shiro's really true advice: "Nice and all, but he's too quiet."
Dateki Shiro of Halo was raised by a monk in the Dateki area from where he got his surname. Although he was normally talkative, he rarely discussed his past.
The Ronin Warrior of Life had yet to arrive. If the Ancient One knew about the coming threat sooner, they would have received their armors a long time ago.
There were only three huts and one temple. The Ronin Warriors were crammed into the three huts, with the exception of Jiguro who had his own house. The bearers of Torrent, Strata, and Hardrock were supposed to share one. Shiro's advice about the Chinese sailor proved to be true early on the first night. "Ashura, Ashura, wake up," Morhiko increased his volume and urgent tone. Getting only more oblivious snores, he started to poke the Chinese man awake. "Ashura, wake up!"
The sailor sprang up, ready for battle. "What? Is the Dynasty here? Are we being attacked?" His eyes narrowed as he listened for sounds.
"No!" Morhiko gestured for him to calm down. "I just woke you up to tell ya to sleep on your side. You snore too much."
"Oh, just a trivial thing, then?" Ashura believed the armors were useless against a threat other than the Dynasty.
"Yes," he sighed. Were all Chinese people this serious?
They went back to their own respective beds and Ashura's snoring eventually caused Morhiko to evict himself.
The next day, he met Keiko, Jiguro's sweet-tempered wife. She had a small garden, which provided most of her and her husband's food. Like Jiguro and Keiko, some of the people in the town were survivors of the Ancient's clan who became farmers and workers. They donated the very few otherwise inaccessible supplies to the Ancient One and the Ronin Warriors. The majority of people in the nearby towns and villages remained ignorant of them.
For lunch, Shiro, Nazaka, Ashura and he went to the tavern on the third day after his arrival. Tavern people usually were either skeptical or lacked respect so they were forced to pay. Shiro yelled at Ashura to buy something less expensive.
"That money has limits, ya know..." the bearer of Halo trailed off in conclusion.
"How do you get all this money?" Morhiko inquired. According to the others, they bought food from the tavern for weeks and any savings would be gone by then.
"Reglar ronin jobs," Shiro said. "I gotta keep busy."
They chatted quietly about their armors, different training techniques, and how long until the real prophecy happened. After they received their meals, their waitress (according to Shiro, a whore who wasn't busy with other things which was true) shouted out to her colleagues at the bar, "She got out again! Someone place her back in the room!"
They heard murmurs of "not my brat," "I'm tired," and "so annoying."
Then, they saw a little girl around age six, standing on a stool to look over the bar. Her short matted hair hung down as though confused and her eyes were a mixture of bewilderment, fear and curiosity. The girl's mother obviously quit caring and ignored her.
Shiro scowled, but continued eating; the food muffled his foul words.
Nazaka grumbled, "No one deserves to be raised in a place like this."
"Well, then," also with a grim tone, Ashura started to stand, "We need to free her from this place, correct?"
Morhiko and Shiro gaped at him, surprised.
"What?" Ashura inquired with a smirk. "Not justice to bring life into this world and then neglect that life."
"Yeah, but... hey!" the other three left Shiro struggling to get up at the table. Morhiko chatted with the girl while Ashura and Nazaka talked to her mother.
"Hey, I'm Mouri Morhiko. What's your name?" he asked the child. He heard justice recurring in Ashura's sentences.
"I don't have a name," she replied meekly.
Morhiko swallowed a foul word of his own. He knew children of whores were often neglected like her, but he rarely thought about the concept of abuse. Children deserved better.
"Do you like this place? Do they treat you nice?" he asked her.
She shrugged, "It's kinda scary."
Making himself noticed, Shiro said, "Well, sister, you're going to live with us now. Will ya like that? My name's Dateki Shiro and they're-" he pointed to two approaching people, "Karei Ashura and Yamanouchi Nazaka."
When Morhiko was informed that her mother was all-too willing to get rid of her, he muttered, "I would never abandon a child."
"Yeah," Shiro said, "But now, Ancient'll give us a lecture about picking up strays."
The Ancient One was surprised, but never lectured. She was named "Yuki". Although Jiguro and Keiko agreed to raise Yuki, Shiro and she were officially declared siblings. Two days after Yuki's adoption, the bearer of Strata arrived. Hitomaro was unfortunately isolated from fluffy, beds, servants and the wonderful Japanese classic, The Tale of Genji. Mitoma Hitomaro was also traumatized by Ashura's snoring. Shiro was traumatized by Hitomaro's complaining. After the bearers of Halo and Strata got into a nasty brawl, Shiro sighed and said, "Even old magical monks make mistakes."
Kaosu sensed that the evil's "awakening", "arrival" or "attack" was nearing. However, one armor still needed a bearer.
Sasaki Idoju of the Winter armor, the Ronin Warrior of Obedience, wished his nose would stop itching. Shiro and Toshiten challenged him to a drinking contest at the tavern. Idoju naturally accepted. However, his nose itched, causing his top lip to curl up in frustration and spilling the sake all over himself. He lost instantly. Shiro won, but the side effect left him grinning while groaning with a headache.
"When you've-" the bearer of Halo wheezed, "been a - reglar ronin for as long as - I haf - you're an expert at just about nearly ev'r'thing."
Idoju of Winter nodded. There were few things that Shiro could not do. Lately, Idoju helped Shiro learn martial arts and Shiro helped him perfect his swordsmanship. Perhaps by being a true Ronin Warrior and defeating this vague threat, he would again honor the Sasaki name.
"Well, I never expected to see Takashi's little pet ninja in a tavern," a confident voice leered behind him.
Battle instincts awakened at the sound of an old enemy, Idoju spun around. "Hariel!"
"Oh, yeah. Your lord is dead, isn't he?" The rouge ninja leaned his chair back towards the wall.
Idoju scowled; his muscles clenched. "Why aren't you with lord Nezumi?"
"That job was boring. Unlike you, I only have one person to honor."
"You have no honor for anyone."
"Neither do you," Hariel smirked. "That's why you're just a common lowly ronin. A mere beggar with broken swords."
His scowl deepened as he reached into his pocket. His right hand caressed the armor orb. He had the ability to avenge his lord!
Hariel continued to taunt him. "You lacked the skill to protect your lord and thus dishonored your entire family. You can never be as skilled as I am. All you can do is be a polite, obedient dog which is why you're essentially a worthless, pet ninja."
Pulling his hand out of his pocket, Idoju charged. Toshiten grabbed his arms from the back to restrain him while Shiro blocked the passage to Hariel with his hand over Idoju's.
How interesting. Hariel noted that the person of mixed-descent unsuccessfully attempted to cover what Idoju was holding - a brown orb with an obedience kanji in it. Only the Ronin Warrior Legend described such things. If Idoju was a Ronin Warrior, then the other armors must be nearby. Without a word, he left the tavern and ran towards an area near the village that he did not explore. More than likely, that unexplored place was the home of the Ronin Warriors and he had to hurry if he was to evade Idoju and the two others.
Camouflaged among the leaves, Hariel examined the position of his victims and searched for an evasive route to the (he learned this by listening) armor of Wildfire. He already poured a sleeping potion in their drinking water and needed a way to steal without his enemies knowing who the culprit was. The old man left for some reason. Hitomaro, Ashura, Nazaka, and Jiguro were the only people who would prevent him from attaining his goal. They stopped practicing to cook lunch, fish.
"After this evil is killed, what will all of you do with your armors?" the lord asked, setting down a pail of the intoxicated water. The others began to drink; replying after their turn was over.
"My town is plagued by snake demons," said Nazaka. "One poisoned my father. I'll use my armor to heal everyone and protect my town."
Ashura replied, "With my armor, the world will be safe forever although I personally wish to resume my life as a sailor."
"I suppose I'll just give my armor back to the Ancient One," said Jiguro.
Hitomaro was silent; thinking over something that Hariel cared less about. The stupid white tiger was already asleep. Patience is a virtue. Not perfect virtue, but a virtue nonetheless. They already drank the water with the sleeping potion. After a few moments and a few more drinks, Nazaka raised his hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn. Jiguro and Ashura tried to hold her heads up.
"You are the son of nobility. Why did you become a merchant?" Hitomaro asked the bearer of Hardrock. The lord blinked nearly incessantly, trying to stay awake.
"I travel alot. Being a merchant is harmless occupation yet more exciting than staying at home." Ashura yawned. "A nap would be good." Without even attempting to journey to his hut, he laid down on the ground.
"I suppose that fulfills your life so congratulations." Jiguro and Ashura were already asleep. The remaining two did not feel like talking. Without activity to support them, Hitomaro and Nazaka quickly fell asleep.
Hariel waited a moment to let unconsciousness take complete effect. Then, containing his excitement, he jumped down from his tree and ran towards the Ancient's abode. Suddenly, when he was mere centimeters away from the door, he heard a sound like a muffled earthquake. One earthquake, two earthquakes. The sound was getting louder! Approaching! Hariel sprang into a battle stance with his twin daggers drawn. Then, he suppressed his laughter. The sound was harmless. The stupid bearer of Hardrock was snoring. Smiling, Hariel walked inside to retrieve his prize.
The entrance room contained a table and a bed. Another door was adjacent one of the walls. He opened the door to an extensive closet with a red armor. There was Wildfire in its blazing glory. Hariel caressed the armor. This was Wildfire, the most powerful of all the armors. Wildfire was now his armor. Then, gently after some investigation, he separated the helmet from the body of the armor and put the helmet on his own head. He put on the arms manually, but the rest of the armor followed, fitting itself onto him magically.
"YOU ARE NOT WORTHY!!"
A voice! Supernatural! In his head! Trembling, Hariel cowered with his hands over his head until the fear faded away. The voice (or was it a sensation?) left as though it never existed. He breathed deeply to regain his composure. It was meaningless anyway. The armor belonged to him. Now, he could destroy Hitomaro's defenses. Hariel of Wildfire always got what he wanted.