Me, Myself, and My Haunted Shadow

By Ryoken

"Well, that weekend could've gone better," Cye thought out loud. Everything hadn't gone as planned, and they were relieved to be going home, even though the next day they had to go to school. Of course, the ride home wasn't exactly fun either, considering Rowen was continually bugging Kento, who threatened him with "Don't make me pull over this car!!"

"You're starting to sound a lot like a mom there, Kento!" Rowen teased.

"Grrrr, shut up! I'm trying to drive here!!"

"Kento, look out!!!" Cye yelled. Three yards away stood Kayura and the warlords. They didn't seem about to move out of the way either.

"Uh, shouldn't we move?" Dais asked. Kayura shook her head.

"They'll stop for us."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup."

Kento had to slam on the breaks and swerve the van to a halt in order to miss hitting them. He almost hit two trees in the process and a large rock scraped the bumper and broke the left back blinker.

"Nice driving," Sage complimented. Kento didn't notice as he stepped out of the car, along with everyone else.

"What are you guys doing here? Trying to kill yourself or something?" Ryo asked.

"No, we came here to warn you."

"Warn us?"

"A stranger has come here to Toyama. I have sensed that this person is very powerful, but I'm unable to say whether they are on our side or not. You better watch your backs," Kayura told them.

Before the Ronins could ask another question, they went through a portal door to the Nether realm.

"Guys, you don't think that this stranger could be...?" Cye started to say.

"It's a possibility," Sage said.

"Sage, you don't really think it's Riko, do you? She's our friend," Ryo asked. "And besides, she doesn't really seem the type."

"Think about it, Ryo. It seems she came at the same time as this 'stranger'. She's quiet and doesn't talk too much. And consider what happened at her house. I think she fits the bill pretty well," Sage answered.

"But what about this power thingy?" Kento said. "She doesn't seem to have any powers."

"Maybe she hasn't shown them yet," Rowen argued.

"I don't know...Even if she is this stranger, should we worry? She doesn't seem evil to me," Cye said.

"Why don't we wait longer before we make anymore judgments about Riko, ok?" Ryo suggested. They all agreed.

I knew there was something odd about her...

"Hey, Riko!!" Came a familiar voice. She turned to see Kento heading her way. She waved with a warm smile as he caught up with her. "What's up?"

"Nothing much...Oh! I met some friends of yours over the weekend. I think one of their names was Kayura-"

"K-Kayura?! You-You met Kayura!?" He sputtered.

"Eeto, yeah. She and three other people with her were looking for you guys. Are you feeling okay?"

"HAI! I'm fine! I, uh, have to go find Ryo, sayonara!" He said as he rushed into the school.

"What in the world is going on?" Riko thought out loud. She continued walking until she reached her first period class, biology. She noticed that Cye wasn't there when she came in and considered it strange. Kento couldn't have made him late since he picked him up in the morning and she had just seen him, although he had been acting strangely...Her thoughts were broken however, when he came rushing in the door as the two-minute bell rang.

"Hello, Cye," Riko said, trying to be cheerful. He nervously turned around to give a quick 'hi', then turned back around. She frowned. Something was definitely going on and she hated to be left out, but If they wanna tell me, then they will, she thought.

Riko continued working and nothing was said between the two. As the bell for class to end rang, Riko hurried so that Cye couldn't ditch and leave her in the classroom alone...with the possibility of Deana coming after her. Cye seemed to distance himself from her a little as they walked.

"Did I do something wrong, Cye?" She asked. He seemed to snap out of his "ignoring" trance.

"Huh? Iie! Not at all! Where did you get that idea?" He said.

"Well, let's see here now. Kento runs away from me when I told him I met Kayura and then you practically ignore me for a whole period. The only thing you said to me was 'hi', and even then you didn't make eye contact. How's that?"

"Good point. Gomen. We...have a lot on our minds at the moment."

"Ah, I see. I know what that's like."

"So you met Kayura?"

"Yeah. What's the big deal about her, anyhow?"

"Uh, well, we, eeto, weren't expecting you to meet her...so soon," Cye quickly added. "When?"

"Saturday, while I was at the mall. Oh yeah, did they manage to find you?"

"Uh, hai."

"Well that's good." Suddenly remembering what they had played, she started to grin slyly.

"What are you smiling about?" Cye said a little nervously.

"Hehe...baka..."

"Pardon?"

"Baka."

"Who's a baka?"

"Baka."

"You know someone named Baka and he or she is a baka?" Cye was confused.

Riko looked at him. "Baka!"

"Are you calling me a baka?"

She shook her head. "Baka!"

"Nani? You're confusing me. Please, speak English, would you?"

Riko had a giggle-fit. "Baka is a game! We were playing it with Kayura and her friends, or whoever they were."

"You mean you met them too??" She nodded. "And you played a game with them???" She nodded again. Cye scratched his head. This was new...

"Race you to Kento!" Riko told him. He nodded as she got the head start.

"Oi!!"

"Hey, guys. I was just, uh telling Rowen here about, uh..."

"How boring his life is," Rowen teased, quickly covering for Kento.

"Hey!!!"

"Did you guys know that Riko here met Kayura AND the others over the weekend?" Cye mentioned.

"Uh huh," They said in unison.

"And did you know they played a game called Baka?"

Kento and Rowen sweatdropped. They shook their heads.

"Yeah, it was fun!!" Riko piped in. The two kept staring in disbelief. The former warlords had played a game with HER?!?! Not to mention the title didn't exactly help the situation. "Although Dais didn't play. I dunno why, it's fun!"

"You'll have to teach us sometime," Cye said.

"Sure!!!" Riko said. As she went into the classroom to drop off her stuff, the others spoke quietly and quickly.

"Dude, what is wrong with you?! Didn't you hear what she just said?!" Kento asked.

"Just act like nothing's wrong. She's getting worried," Cye said.

"Why's that?" Rowen asked.

"She said she thought it was because of something she did that Kento went and ran away from her," Cye glared.

"I didn't know what else to do at the time, so sue me!!" Kento said, trying to defend himself.

"I'm back! Miss me??" Riko asked energetically.

"Of course!" Cye said.

The periods came and went, and except that Sage had no idea of the events that had happened with Riko or the plan to act casually and had ignored her more than usual, and everything went smoothly for once. Deana, according to gossip, had been suspended for two weeks. Ahh, sweet sweet bully-less bliss, Riko had thought. For her sake, she hoped her gang wouldn't gang up on her instead.

It was lunchtime when Riko made the announcement that she finally had her stuff.

"You seem extra energetic today, Riko. You didn't eat any sugar, did you?" Rowen asked. Everyone looked at him, and hoped that she didn't say yes. They all knew how it was when someone was on a sugar high.

Riko thought for a bit. "I don't think so. Sometimes I just get crazy on me own," she joked.

"All righty, so when do we get to see this room of yours?" Kento asked as he ate his lunch.

Riko pretended to be deep in thought. "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" She asked. Then she gave him a suspicious-like, yet comical glare. He laughed.

"Well, why not? It's not all girly, is it?" He asked.

"I dunno, is it?!" She asked.

"How would he know, he's never been in your room," Cye said. "Hey, wait, what are you implying?"

"WHERE were you on the night of June 6th, 1790 c.d.?!?!" Riko asked. She gave him the strange glare again.

"Wha...what the heck does c. d. stand for??" Kento laughed.

"AH HA! So, you deny that you weren't in gymnastics yesterday at 1 am?" Riko interrogated, again with the stupid glare.

"Riko, do any of these nonsensical questions have to do with whether your room can be seen or not?" Sage asked.

"EXACTLY!!!!!!" She yelled. Everyone looked at her strangely. She turned around to face the other students. "What are you lookin at??" She imitated. They shrugged, figured Deana had made her gone insane from the fight, and went back to what they were doing.

"What have you done with our Riko?!?!" Kento asked as he playfully gripped her shoulders and shook her. She allowed her head to be shaken back and forth.

"Ittai...headrush..." She said, holding onto her head. Then she shook her head.

"So anyway...could we?" Kento asked again.

"Well..." Riko seriously thought. Do I really want these guys to be in a girl's room, not to mention mine? She sighed. "I don't suppose it could hurt."

"Cool. When?"

"Uh, tomorrow, I guess."

The bell rang conveniently.

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This one was a little shorter than the others, I think. But I thought I'd just leave ya hanging for a little while longer. If yas wants another update, hit the review button and give me praise! Cause I'm a "kool writer" *sniff*

Translations-

Eeto-um

Hai-yes

Sayonara-goodbye

Iie- No

Gomen-I'm sorry

Baka-idiot

Nani-what?

Oi- Hey

Ittai-Ow