The Ancient's Staff Chapter 5: Chapter4, a ronin warriors fanfic

I'm telling everyone again just so that no one feels bewildered, confused, and/or embarrassed. The song "Kamen no Shita no Namida" is at the end of this chapter. You can download it at Theria's site and Sora's site.

Theria's site: http://www.theria.net/yst/cds/index.html

Sora's site: http://www.sorakun.net/ystmp3/index2.html

Gasping for air, Sekhmet immediately shot up in bed in a sitting position. His mouth was dry, almost swollen and his hands shook. He felt very cold and afraid… Sekhmet rarely dreamed and never remembered his few dreams. However, the dream that occurred after the Ancient One left terrified him and had continued for hours.

Trying to calm himself, Sekhmet laid down again and attempted to blank out any fear and thoughts, but the blankness terrified him further and made him remember his years of confinement in Naga's castle.

For months after Naga captured him, the snake demons beat and tortured him, teasing him, enticing him to rebel and then thrashing him down again. Then they placed him in a cold, cramped cell and gave him old, crusty food. Hours of silence in his cell passed during every day. At first, he relied on his anger to occupy his days, but when that faded into an unnoticed part of his existence and no longer entertained him, he felt himself losing his humanity. Until Sekhmet's thirteenth year, Naga chained him up on a leash and flaunted him around the area like a prized puppy. Sekhmet, instinctively to restore his vanishing humanity, spoke up and asked questions during conversations that Naga had with various officials. Although that action was typical of young maturing children, it resulted in whippings and beatings.

As Sekhmet aged, his brief reprieves away from his cell grew sparse and by his fourteenth year, Naga left him in the cell permanently. Soon, all traces of his humanity disappeared. He became the dumb animal that Naga wanted him to be, with animal pleasures and animal desires. Speech turned incomprehensible: a thing that he barely understood. Nothingness filled his mind.

With a startled cry, the former warlord of Venom sprang out of bed. He hated his past! After calming himself, Sekhmet stared incidentally at his own reflection in his mirror. He had nothing of his grandfather's regal stature - where Nazaka had wise flowing gray hair, Sekhmet had irrational choppy green hair, where Nazaka had intelligent loving eyes, Sekhmet had crazy bulging eyes. In fact, Sekhmet appeared more like the brutal snake demons who he hated, instead of his grandfather. Without thinking, the former warlord of Venom shattered the mirror and ran out of the room.

Sekhmet stopped running when he neared the training room as he heard the methodical breaking of boards. Entering the training room, he saw Kale practicing. Sekhmet smiled and sat down along the left wall of the training room. Dais, Kale, and Kayura never hated him. They always treated him as an equal. Perhaps they treated him better than he deserved. Since he never previously had any friends, the feelings that he had for them were strange, but he enjoyed the feeling of friendship.

Kale noticed the former warlord of Venom and asked him, "How come you couldn't sleep?"

"Stuff," Sekhmet replied, not wishing to discuss what really troubled him.

"Its weird that our grandfathers were Ronin Warriors and that we now have to be Ronin Warriors."

Sekhmet nodded silently. They had to honor and to respect their grandfathers. However, how could Sekhmet honor Nazaka? The former warlord of Venom remembered his comrades' conversations about their grandfathers. Sasaki Idoju and Kuroda Jiguro told their grandchildren nothing about the Ronin Warriors and the armors! Yamanouchi Nazaka, however, was not secretive.

When Sekhmet was seven, he noticed that Nazaka frequently pulled out a green orb and stared at it. After Sekhmet asked about the orb, Nazaka replied that it was a Ronin Warrior armor orb. Then, his grandfather explained about his adventure with seven other Ronin Warriors - Dateki Shiro, Mitoma Hitomaro, Karei Ashura, Mouri Morhiko, Koma Toshiten, Sasaki Idoju, and Kuroda Jiguro. Fascinated by the tale of strength and valor, Sekhmet asked his grandfather why he did not use the armor against the snake demons,

Nazaka replied, "I did force back the snake demons with this and a few years of peace followed. Unfortunately, this armor is a thing of power, and the weak people want power. Shortly after the snake demons were forced back, a man from the village threatened my children's lives in exchange for the armor. The wars made him power-hungry and my armor tempted him to steal it. I never wanted to tempt anyone with its power so I vowed never to use it again."

Shaking off the memory, the former warlord of Venom wondered to Kale, "Did the Ancient One ever talk to you in your sleep?"

"How do you mean?"

"Did he ever appear in your dreams to communicate to you?"

Kale nodded, "Yes, a few times every week. He usually comes to inform me about my armor, its purpose, and how I could use it. Does he tell you about your armor?"

"No." Over the following two year after Sekhmet asked his grandfather about the orb, Nazaka thoroughly explained the armors and their uses. "My grandfather told me everything. I chose to ignore it."

"Everything?" That word alarmed Kale. "You mean you knew about Talpa's plans and that the armors were made for good?"

The former warlord of Venom winced, regretful. "I- I ignored what my grandfather said. Working for Talpa seemed better than staying where I was." For days, he listened with a strange envious feeling to his comrades' conversations and he wanted to join their conversations about childhood. Finally, he spoke about his own past.

Years after Sekhmet was captured, his dry, crusty rations thinned almost to nonexistence. He starved near death on several occasions with nothing to sustain his stomach and his soul. When Naga left him in his empty cage permanently, eating and sleeping became his only hobbies for three years, a total of 1,095 days. Without any outside stimulus, eating and sleeping became the sole highlights, perhaps the purpose, of his life. One day, someone replaced his crusty, occasionally moldy, rations in exchange for the best, fresh foods. He cheerfully gulped down the food, and later with his eroded intellect, he wondered who gave him the food and why. Not having any positive stimulus for nearly a decade, he believed that whoever gave him the meal was good. He received wonderful meals for a week until Talpa offered him a position as a warlord. Talpa sent nether soldiers into Naga's castle to break down the cell door. Then, Sekhmet approached Naga while she slept with his grandfather's armor orb fastened to a chain around her neck. Sekhmet stole the armor and joined Talpa.

"Do you remember anything good about your childhood?" Kale inquired after a moment of somber silence. "A song or poem or anything?"

The former warlord of Venom frowned thoughtfully. "I do remember that Nazaka used to sing a song to me when I was tired or sad."

When Sekhmet told Kale the title of the song, Kale exclaimed, "My grandfather sang the exact same song to me when I was little! Let's go wake Dais and see if he knows the song."

Smiling mischievously, Sekhmet agreed.

For an unknown reason, being woken up always terrified Dais. The scary figures of Kale and Sekhmet hovering over him worsened his fear. "You are idiots," Dais replied in response to their question. "I can't believe you woke me up just for a song…"

"It's a fun song!" Kale objected to Dais's sour tone. Sekhmet nodded. "And we need to sing the song with a few bottles of sake."

Sitting up, Dais grumbled, "I don't know what's so wonderful about that song and rice wine, but anyway, my grandparents did sing it to me frequently. I remember my grandmother and my parents always sang to me. I can't get a lot of sleep now, so I might as well sing and get drunk with you."

Early in the morning as the other inhabitants awoke, while Oleiriset watched the struggling elemental Ronin Warriors and while Kayura meditated with the Ancient One, the former warlords held a social event for themselves. {Play song} they tried to evoke the spirit of camaraderie that their grandfathers shared as Ronin Warriors. They drank huge bottles of sake, rice wine, and, talking about funny stories, the former warlords eventually began to sing the song that their grandfathers sang so many years ago:

akuyaku nante itsumo kanashii sadame no Lonely Guy Villians always a sad destiny Lonely guy

saigo wa itsu datte eiyuu ni yarareteshimau The end is when the hero beats him

tama niwa oretachi mo hakushu o okutte okure Occasionally, we get some applause at our defeat

kamen ni kakushiteru sunao wa misenai Our face is hidden by the mask so you can't see it.

naze oretachi wa nikumare yakubakari Why are we nothing but bad guys

itsumo kokoro no katasumi de naiteiru Always crying in a corner of our heart.

hiiroo ni naritai kakko yoku ikitai We want to be heroes We want to be cool.

itsumo hi ka negai o hanaete Oh My God! What day will our wish be granted. Oh my God!

hiiroo ni naritai kakko yoku kimetai We want to be heroes We want to make things right

yuuyake o sei ni shite waratte mitai We want to see ourselves smiling in the sunset.

Crying and laughing, the former warlords clasped their cups of rice wine together and continued the song. Kale rambled inane poetry while Dais and Sekhmet threw rice balls.

boyaku no hayametoke yo omae no kimochi wa wakaru Boy's speeding up, We understand your feelings

namida wa niawanai oretachi wa akuyaku na no sa Tears don't suite us We're villians after all

itsuka wa oretachi nimo akarui mirai ga kuru sa Someday even we want a bright future to come

nagu sametekureruna yokei ni kanashii Giving us comfort is too much sorrow.

kono aku no michi mune o hatte susume This evil path stretches our chest in advance

sore ga otoko no ikiru michi seishunsa That is a man's life path his youth

hiiroo wa iranai kono mama de kamawanai Heroes are useless With that we don't care

oretachi ga inakerya hajimaranaize We must be, not for the first time.

hiiroo ni sayonara nakigoto wa iwanai Goodbye heroes, we won't complain

kono mune ni kakushita kanawanu negai In this heart we hide our unanswered wish.