Author's Note: I just realized something.I had written that the leaves were green, then later I said that it was autumn.*face fault* I'm gonna have to fix that mistake when I rewrite the story. Which I plan to do once this entire story is finished!! Well anyway, here's the next chapy. You can see that it's actually better written! My writing skills have improved! Sorry for the delay on getting this chapter up. That's life for you! Hope you enjoy this! ^-^

The Lost Mystics and the Dream Bearer Chapter 6: Blonde Assassin By: The Mysterious One

Apparently with no surprise, To any happy flower, The frost beheads it at its play, In accidental power, The blonde assassin passes on, The sun proceeds unmoved, To measure off another day, For an approving God.

Apparently With No Surprise~ By: Emily Dickinson

"How about we get something to eat," Mia suggested finally. Cye flashed her a smile of thankfulness for rescuing him from Kento's onslaught, to which she only nodded slightly with a smile of knowing.

That evening allowed everyone to settle down from the peculiar happenings of that day and the decided meal consisted of sandwiches and soup. A quick fix that no one seemed to mind, even Kasteina, whom wasn't at all used to the idea of eating. Her sandwich hadn't been much of problem to eat but when it came to the soup all she could do was sit there and blink. She watched the others as a means to understand what to do. They appeared to be using the strangely formed metal utensil that she later learned was called a spoon. With this they dipped into the steaming soup and placed it into their mouths after lightly blowing on the hot liquid to cool it slightly. Clumsily, she lifted her own spoon and shifted it in her hand until she had it in the right position, glancing up at the others' to make sure she had it correct. Rowen, sitting across form her, watched her with great curiosity but she noticed. She returned his gaze then lowered her spoon into her soup as an excuse to look away.

Normally she wouldn't have let such a trivial thing bother her but for some reason she could not stand the sight of his midnight blue eyes. Ever since the instance of the necklace being handed over to her from him she was edgy around him, not liking the feeling she'd gotten when he gave it. The necklace now hung around her neck, the clear crystalline orb glinting slightly as the light from overhead struck its glossy surface. It was as strange object alright and she couldn't understand why it felt so familiar. It was as if the piece of jewelry belonged to her and she had finally found it after a long time of its absence. The truth was, however, she'd never seen it before, Kasteina was certain of that. Her memory was sharp and precise on such matters; especially with what came to and from her home up in the Cold Mountains. Even though it was a few in numbers who attempted such things, she remembered it all down to the smallest of details in appearance and smell purely by a single thought. So there was no possible way that she would have forgotten any ownership of such a necklace.

Lifting her shaky hand, she bent over to blow lightly on her soup but what was intended to happen didn't. Her hand shuddered so much that the hot liquid splashed out of her spoon and onto her lap. Jumping in surprise at the feeling of a little heat on her legs she bumped her bowl, soup flying all over her. She gave an unexpected yelp that made Mia jump with a start. "What happened?" Mia asked, even though she halfway knew already.

"What happens to anyone who is nervous when they are eating. She accidentally spilt some soup on herself." Kasteina, through her pain, looked at him in astonishment, not expecting Rowen to answer Mia's question with a cover up.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Mia led her upstairs to her room, the others watching.

"What was that all about I wonder?" Ryo asked. Rowen didn't reply even though he felt that he probably knew.

"She's weird, that's all I've got to say." Kento replied. "And don't say you could've told me that!"

"She is strange, I'd agree with you there. But I wish we knew more about her." Sage said calmly.

"It would be better if she would speak." Cye said, "But Kasteina hasn't spoken since the battle against the dog-mutant."

"Cye, is there something that you're not telling us." Cye looked questioningly at Rowen, the one who'd asked the question. "What I meant was, is there anything that you might have left out by accident about the battle. Better yet, tell us the whole account. Maybe there's something in there that might help us out."

The others waited patiently as Cye sat in silence, trying to recall everything that had happened. "Well." he finally spoke when he figured he had everything in memory on the tip of his tongue. "I was looking for Kasteina, as you know, when I got this feeling like I was being watched. I couldn't find anyone but that feeling kept bothering me. Or maybe it was that someone called my name." he sighed as a sign that he wasn't sure which. "But anyway, I kept going until I came across a strange looking man. He was wearing white robes. They almost looked like a scientist lab-coat but not quite. And his hair, if he had any, was covered completely with a white cloth, like those Arabic hats worn in the deserts, turbans I think they're called. He called me the Lost Mystic of Dreams, if I remember correctly."

Whiteblaze perked his ears at that.

"Then he sent that dog after me. I fought but I ended up pined underneath its paw. Jus as it was about to squash me I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. It was Kasteina, she'd been on the ground unconscious and had only just then come to. She stood up and called forth her armor. The dog was shocked as was I. She warned it to let me go but it wouldn't listen so she sent her attack at it. I had managed to roll out from under its lifted paw as it back away before getting hit, or at least it happened something like that. Either way, I was free. Kasteina de-transformed and fell to the ground in exhaustion. The man was nowhere to be seen and the dog was dead. So I wrapped her in my shirt and came back here with Kasteina. The rest, you know."

"Who is the Lost Mystic of Dreams supposed to be?" Yulie asked.

"Dunno, but whoever it is, that guy wants him dead." Kento shrugged.

Rowen sighed, he himself didn't have any answers either. Yet he couldn't get rid of the feeling that there would be something special about that necklace he'd given Kasteina. In fact, he nearly understood what it was at that very moment when the girl took hold of it but the feeling passed before he was able to take a grasp of understanding. It was as if that necklace had been trying to tell him something but it wasn't able to in the end. He wished it had, oh how he wished it had.

Whiteblaze stood and rubbed his head against Ryo's sitting form. Little did anyone notice that he suddenly felt concerned at the others' words. The boy smiled a bit and rubbed his head but that gave no comfort. He knew who the Lost Mystic of Dreams was and the ronins didn't. A spark of hope dwelled within him however when he realized that the enemy didn't know either. They had to find out that Ryo was the one before their new enemy did or it would be disastrous. I hope you know what you are doing, Unbalancer.

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Silence reigned in the Koji mansion the next morning. Sage and Ryo were outside. The sounds of clanking armor had stopped so Yulie figured they were taking a break and talking about something or other. Mia was up already too and starting the morning meal. Even though Cye preferred to cook for the others she would normally do her share. "I don't do very much." She had said once to offset Cye. Kento was the only other one up also. Waiting patiently Mia to finish. Rather impatiently, Yulie corrected himself with a small fit of laughter when he remembered that Mia told the ronin to go ahead and make himself a sandwich if he was so hungry. Rowen and Cye were either still asleep or they were just sitting up in their rooms in silence. Yet Yulie's curiosity wasn't on what they were doing.

Slowly he opened the creaky door to Mia's bedroom and peeked inside. On the bed slept the new girl Kasteina. She looked pretty peaceful. Her breathing was slow and shallow, coming out of slightly parted lips. The light from outside filtered in through the window making her hair glow in silver light. Obviously Mia had loaned her a pair of pajamas.

After yesterday's incident, his curiosity about her had grown. She was so strange and he seemed to be drawn to her. He knew exactly why, or at least he felt like he did. Kasteina reminded him of someone, of course that someone was a lot younger than her, maybe even younger than himself. It was only a little girl that he had seen once in a dream. Her short curly dark brown hair seemed to be the only thing that stuck out the most in his memory. When the light hit it just right it looked almost exactly like Kasteina's, so much so that both of their hair gave the same impression of a cluster of glowing sparkling stars in the night sky. Then there was that far off look, the identical grayish-blue eyes. It nearly startled him how exact their eyes looked. However that wasn't the only thing that was wedged within his mind.

He remembered the dream quite well. The girl was inside a basket strapped aboard the back of a pure black stallion. Tired and worn, the once great charger stumbled onwards it's head lowered and it's ears dropping as it went forward in effort to keep going. He didn't want to give up, he wouldn't. Even though he was on the verge of collapsing he always managed to find some new strength at the sight of the mansion not far off ahead. The thought of the safety of his precious load was the first and foremost on his mind. He really didn't care about his own welfare. A promise had been made to the human girl's parents so he had to get her to safety because the Dynasty must never get a hold of her. On and on he went until he could go no farther and fell to his knees. Even in his exhausted state he made sure that the girl was alright. With a gentle sigh-like grunting sound of relief the stallion turned his neck back around and lowered himself to the ground. Grunting with the effort , his head laid upon the ground, breathing heavily as foam continued to form around his already soaked muzzle.

"Horsey?" the little girl crawled out from her basket and patted the horse's head. He seemed to smile at her with his tired brown eyes, then closed them. That was his last, the sacrifice he had made was not in vain and he knew that if someone found her in time after he died, he could rest in peace.

"Horsey!!" she cried out in desperation, grabbing the stallion's face and hugging it dearly. Her eyes squeezed closed as crystalline, shining tears threatened to roll down her cheeks. Staying by his side, she cried until she could cry no more, falling asleep at his head.

The girl was woken by the rubbing head of a rumbling black and white tiger who's brown eyes stared into hers with pure understanding, letting her know that she had nothing to fear of him. He appeared to smile softly like the stallion but his attention was averted upwards as he snapped his head towards the sound of someone walking in their direction. There was no growl in his throat but the girl looked up nervously anyway. A messy black haired boy came into view, wearing a red sweater and blue jeans. Someone had found her and he wasn't a part of the Dynasty. The girl's nervousness dispersed as it had when she first realized who the tiger was. She was in safe hands, in the hands of the ronin warriors.

Yulie and the girl, Yollani, became best friends but there was something different about this girl and she knew that the others were edgy about this fact. Yollani tried to understand why growing to a teenager in just three days was unnatural. However she could not grasp the concept that she wasn't fully human and therefore not like her playmate who didn't seem to age even a year more in the short amount of time she'd grown so much older. She really didn't have much time to ponder on these things as the day she had been expecting came. The Dynasty finally found her and she knew she would have to go to them or risk losing her new friends.

As the lights blacked out, the ronins were quick to sense the evil behind the cause and different colored sub-armors appeared on them in an instant. "Mia, Yulie, Yollani, stay here. Whiteblaze watch them." Ryo said as the others prepared to face the enemy. However Yollani wouldn't let Mai's strong yet gentle grasp and pleas stop her from rushing forward. She knew that it was she the soldiers wanted and nothing more. And this was something she had to do if the ronins were going to defeat their new enemy, the enemy they didn't know they would have to face. The fight they would go through would reveal many secrets and she was the key to the beginning of it all. Without her they would not be able to fend off the enemy they knew not of.

Yet a concerned hand reached out and grabbed her arm, not allowing her to go out the window covered doors. Looking, to the side and upwards with a blink of slight surprise she gazed into the blue eyes of the warrior of trust. "Yollani, stay here please!"

"No," Yollani turned to face him completely; a gentle smile that was barely even a smile at all crossed her peaceful looking face. "I must go." Without warning she suddenly hugged him then backed away.

"I suppose you must," he sighed, letting go of her arm. She smiled once more then turned away from the others as they tried to tell her to stop. A strange silence suddenly befell them however and all they could do was watch.

Yollani stepped out onto the balcony and stared down at the soldiers standing outside just below. Then she raised her arms up into the sky as soldier and ronin alike watched in a perplexed tranquil spell which they neither spoke nor moved. All was silent as she held them in her magic to allow them to see what needed to be seen and to hear what needed to be heard. Even Whiteblaze was stilled. Her hands began to glow in a blue light and it quickly traveled over all her body. T-shirt and jean, glowing, grew out into blue strips of an almost transparent dress. Shoes and socks melted away into nothing so that she stood barefoot on the balcony. Brown curls of hair swayed in a nonexistent breeze and the glow finally returned back to her hands. This formed into a circle which center could been seen through. There in its midst appeared an image of a snowy wilderness with gray skies and her words were what finally broke the silence. "Kasteina, the one you must find, is here." With that image dispersed into nothingness as her arms dropped to her sides and the breeze died down. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, falling to the ground to never breath another word.

None of the dream really made any sense to him but the name spoken by the dying girl and the image she showed and how they had ended up finding a girl named Kasteina was what made him all the more curious. He didn't know why he had the dream and if it really had any significance to the times and happenings at hand. Either way he looked at it there was an air of mystery about the girl and whether or not the dream had anything to do with her he finally decided that he really didn't care. Although he very much would have liked to know who exactly this girl was and what she was trying to do. However those were only mysteries that could be discovered by getting her to talk and as it went she didn't seem to be very fond of the idea.

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Sage closed his eyes and listened to the steady beat of the waves lapping against the shore. A slight breeze played in his golden hair and he smiled. It was a beautiful evening. The setting sun mirrored it's inspiring sleepy rays upon the lake surface. The leaves quietly shushed, a few coming lose and floating to the ground.

He opened his eyes and looked down at the tranquil scene below him. Often he would come out to this place by himself so that he could clear his mind and now he needed to do so more than ever. All day he had been trying to understand what had been happening the last few days but he couldn't make anything come together. Looking down at his clenched fist he then released it. The tingling feeling had gotten worse, in fact it was already starting to feel like pain. What was that black stuff? Whatever it was, it was having negative effects. He still wasn't sure if he should have tell the others about it or not. He clenched his fist again to dull the pain, winced, and looked at his hand in surprise. It worked before.

He sat down on the grassy ground indian style and tried to ignore the pain. He closed his eyes, breathing in and out in a rhythmic pattern. Soon he was in a meditating state, trying to see what was causing his hand to hurt with his spirit. His mental self looked down at his hand. As he had expected, it was surrounded by a dark aura. But it didn't stay still like most auras, it slowly crawled up his arm like a crouching beast, growing and gaining in strength. He lifted his hand to get a better look. His finger tips seemed to grow darker, something white shown through. Suddenly his concentration broke, he opened his eyes, breathing heavily. He looked at his hand in disbelief, he'd just seen his bones!

"Did.I imagine it.No," he squeezed his eyes shut, grasping his wrist with his other hand. "It's getting worse by the second." The pain went from his arm to his shoulder, growing more intense with each passing moment. He knelt over, grasping his arm to his chest, clenching his teeth to keep from crying out. His hand slowly grew darker, the stench of rotting flesh filling the air.

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The Genki of Black Chem. watched as a little orb of light appeared in front of him. It slowly grew brighter and brighter until he had to raise his arms over his eyes to hide from it's blinking rays. "What is this!" Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, the light was gone. He lowered his arms and blinked as his eyes tried to readjust to the darkness. Anther life force. Something was linked to him, he could feel it. He had to tell his master.

Nica closed his eyes and bowed his head muttering, "Ga-me," under his breath. A falling sensation came over him and he could feel the air around him grow colder. When it ended he opened his eyes and looked up, now standing in a totally different room, the throne room, "My Master, a human boy has somehow formed a link with me."

"A human?"

"Yes.but there is something different about this one. He has some kind of strange power within him."

"He has what the humans call a mystical armor." Julow explained stepping out of shadow. "They call it by two different names, sometimes Kourin, other times Halo. It seems that he and his friends each bear an armor, each having its own special element."

"Whatever it is. I have a plan that will help us destroy the lost mystic of dreams." Nica said.

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The black aura had grown so intense, so powerful, that it could be seen by the naked eye surrounding his dark decaying form like a fog. A small green light glowed on his forehead, Wis.dom. but was over taken by the darkness.

A growl-like laugh mocked his armor's attempt, "It is too late human!"

The pain vanished, the smell of decay left him. He could sense his body floating in a dark void. It wasn't warm, nor was it cold. There was no air. There was nothing. It was silent. It was welcoming. At last, something told him, at last he could rest from the pain. He closed his eyes, too tired to think, too tired to question, too tired to do anything, allowing himself to drift off into a deep sleep, a deep sleep that he might not wake up from.

A jolt of alarm ran through his body, his senses tingling. When he opened his eyes, all he could see was a blinding blue light. His pupils contracted till they were nothing but small black dots, the gray flecks that made his eyes seem violent grew larger, reflecting the light surrounding him. He could scarcely see a small delicate pale hand touching his bare chest, the light illuminating from it. Sage looked up but couldn't find the face that belonged to the hand.

A slow pain welled up inside him, a pain that he couldn't describe, a pain he'd never felt before. He squinted his eyes shut, allowing a hiss to go through clenched teeth. Everywhere his body was being stretched, pulled, torn apart. His world seemed to tilt and sway. His mind scrambled as it tried to grab onto reality. He fell deeper and deeper into a swirling void. There was no beginning, there was no end. There was no up, there was no down. Only endless spinning.

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Each of them sensed it. A warning cry of danger in a language only their armors could understand. It was weak, but strong enough for the message to reach them. Something was wrong, terribly wrong! "Sage." No other word was needed, they all knew. The ronins darted out of the house, their sub-armors appearing around them in a flash.

"I don't see him anywhere!" Kento announced.

"He has to be here somewhere.wait." Ryo motioned for the others to be quiet. He stared hard at the woods, straining his ears. The underbrush rustled a few minutes and a blonde stepped out.

"Sage!" they breathed in relief. "What happened?"

Sage took a step forward and stumbled in exhaustion. "You okay?" Rowen offered him support, ducking under one of his arms and pulling him up straight, gripping Sage's arm around his shoulders, holding onto his other side with a firm hand. He led the dazed blonde inside, the others trailing behind.

"Please, my room." He nodded to the request and helped his friend climb the stairs. He eased Sage down on his bed then sat down next to him, looking him over in concern.

"Are you okay?"

"I will be." Sage smiled a little to reassure him. He turned his head and stared up at the ceiling. Too many strange things had happened and he still hadn't gotten a good grip on reality. He was lucky enough to even recognize his friends.

"Yeah well, if you need anything just yell." Sage watched Rowen leave the room, his jaded smile returning. He was blessed, he had people who cared about him and it wasn't in his mind to dare take it for granted.

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The house felt chilled the next morning and Ryo was reluctant to leave his bed. Nevertheless he padded to the bathroom before someone else laid claim to it. He took a shower, toweled down, dressing in jeans and the infamous Got Milk? t-shirt one of they guys had gotten him for a present. On his way downstairs he passed Sage sauntering out of his bedroom. "Hey Sage, you feeling better?"

"Yeah, a little." Sage went into the bathroom rubbing his temples and so ended the conversation.

Ryo entered the kitchen where Mia, Yulie, and Cye were working on the morning meal. He filled a coffee mug with water and heated it in the microwave. Taking it out when it was done, he emptied a packet of milk chocolate into it, then stirred the mixture till it was well dissolved. "It's getting colder each day.Winter's not far off." He blew his hot drink then took a sip.

"Yeah I know. That one wall still needs to be fixed. Cardboard isn't going to keep the cold out." Mia said.

"You're not going to call the carpenter are you? I'm sure we could manage to fix it on our own."

"No, I'd rather call a carpenter."

"Mia, you've done so much for us, why won't you let us do it?"

"I've already told Sage that saving the world is big enough of a responsibility. Allowing you guys stay here pales in comparison. Besides you are guests in my house." Her voice sounded with finality. Ryo shrugged, knowing he wasn't getting anywhere.

"Does the table need setting?" Ryo asked, glancing into the dining room by leaning backwards a bit to get a better view of the long table.

"Yeah it does." Cye answered.

"Okay." Setting his hot chocolate down on the counter, Ryo snatched up some plates from the cupboard then returned for the glasses and silverware.

The others would be up soon, all except maybe one particular blue haired boy. Rowen tended to sleep in. He wasn't really much of a morning person. Knowing this, Ryo often wondered how he managed to stay so alert during their battle against Tulpa. Sure will, he supposed. Anything could be possible when something important was on the line. However those days were over and everyone had been falling back into their old routines. The first few weeks after the fight were bliss. Yet one time of danger always left anyone with an after feeling, as if something could happen at any time. That had proved true before when Tulpa returned and now it seemed to be true once again.

"In the back of my mind I can feel this heavy fog of certain doom." Sage had said once before this entire 'Dream Bearer' business had begun. He found the ronin of light staring out at the surrounding countryside, the lake in particular, up in one of Mia's balconies, thinking, however then aloud when Ryo came up beside him. "I fear that as long as we have these armors, we'll always have that feeling."

He certainly described it the best. There was defiantly a truth in those words.

Ryo had just finished setting the table when he heard someone descending the stairs. "Alright! Breakfast time!"

"Morning Kento," he said looking up. "Is Sage out yet?"

"Of the bathroom? No."

Cye and Mia entered the room, both carrying different parts of the meal; consisting of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Yulie brought the juice and milk. Kento brightened at the sight of the food.

"I'll be right back." Ryo excused himself. Hearing Kento's eager chatter about getting on with eating made him smile as he climbed the stairs. He found the bathroom and knocked gently on the closed door. "Sage, we're going to eat now." Silence. "Sage?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," came the somewhat muffled reply. The door opened and a refreshed looking Sage stepped out.

"You look better."

"All I needed was some rest," then he added with a small wink, "and some cold water."

They both returned to the others where they found that Kento had obviously won out the argument because he was wolfing down his food as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. Between gulps he grinned a quick hello to Sage then kept eating. Sage merely shook his head as he sat down at the table.

"One of these days you're going to choke to death."

"Better that than of old age!" That comment received a few smiles and 'oi's from the others.

"Then what about the honor of dying in battle?" Yulie asked.

"Hum.that too."

Said Sage, "Nice choices." Kento merely shrugged. Yulie hide a small laugh behind his hand.

"You don't plan to have a family?"

"I'm too young to be thinking about that, Ryo."

"Sage, how are you feeling?" Mia asked off to the side of the other conversation.

"A little sore. I've got a slight headache too. Otherwise then that, I'm fine."

"What happened to you?"

"I don't know really. I was just sitting outside when a dark shadow of pain enveloped me. There was this blue light, then nothing." Sage was staring at his hand as if it held some kind of significance but when he finished he clenched it. Mia looked silently at the hand.

The room seemed to grow deathly still and Kento couldn't help but fidget in his seat nervously. "What's that supposed to mean?" He finally asked, not able to take the silence anymore.

There weren't any jokes or smiles now. Everyone was serious. "I don't know. Nothing makes sense. Ever since we met that girl strange things have been happening." Ryo spoke.

Sage lowered his hand and got up, his chair's legs screeching against the floor as he pushed the chair back. "If everyone's done eating, I'll wash the dishes."

There weren't any arguments so he picked up the dishes, his friends handing theirs over. He could feel them looking at his back in concern but he just walked into the kitchen without even glancing back. As he entered, he saw the forgotten mug of hot chocolate lying on the counter. Setting the dishes to the side he then began to fill the sink with sudsy water. While he waited for it to fill he took the mug into the dining room.

"Someone forget this?" Sage raised the mug for the others to see.

"It's mine, thanks, Sage." Ryo said. Sage gave him the drink and gathered the remaining dishes before heading back into the kitchen.

"We still haven't figured any of this out." Cye said, gaining everyone's attention.

"Yeah, like what does this chick have to do with all of this." Kento interjected.

Ryo sighed, "Unfortunately, I can't make head or tail of it." He drank some of his hot chocolate, though to call it hot chocolate would be useless. However, he didn't mind the cooled drink.

"We have to. Come on, there has to be something." Mia looked at everyone, searching for anything that might help.

"Maybe we should wait for Rowen," Cye finally decided. "I'm sure he knows something. He had that run in with the little girl after all."

"Wasn't she the one who gave him the necklace?" Yulie asked.

"I think so," Ryo nodded.

A door from upstairs opened. "Rowen?"

"Nope, just Cye's girlfriend." Kento stated.

"For the last time Kento, she's not my girlfriend!"

"Could've fooled me."

"I don't think he's ever going to stop teasing you about that," Yulie said.

Ryo stayed quiet as he watched Kasteina, easily tuning everyone else out. As if she knew she was being looked at, she paused her clumsy walk down the hallway and glanced down at him. He had to look away because even from that distance her eyes were still intense. She was strange alright. Hardly even a word came from her, although her walk had already greatly improved over quite a short amount of time. How many days had it been already, three, five, since this whole thing began? He couldn't remember. Yet numerous strange things had happened. His vision of the girl named Kasteina and the wolf, the little girl Rowen had met up with in the woods or wherever it was he was transported to during his walk, and then Sage. This all seemed to evolve around some person holding the title "Dream Bearer". Where was this person? Why didn't he or she show up? They needed to find this person quick if things were going to continue on like this. Certainly Kasteina held some answers. If only she would talk.

Trying to stand, Ryo found he had to sit back down to keep from falling over. He lightly touched his head and shook it while blinking a few times. "Hey, what's up bud?" Kento asked.

"Nothing, I just got a little dizzzzza spuu." the ronin of fire sunk back in his seat, his eyes closed, his head hanging limply. Then his body slowly began to slid off of the chair in its slumped position.

"Ryo!"

Sage ran in after hearing the others' cry. Cye was trying to prop Ryo up correctly. "I think we should get him to his bed." Mia was suggesting.

"What happened?" Sage asked.

"Dunno, he just passed out," Kento answered with a shrug.

"Let me take a look at him." Sage checked him over physically then placed a hand on his shoulder, closing his eyes to concentrate. He allowed his spirit to see Ryo's. What he saw made him break away quickly. "He-He's been poisoned."

"Do you think you can heal him?" Mia asked. Yulie stood beside her, staring at Ryo in fear.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Kento's right," Cye agreed. "We still don't know what exactly happened to Sage. I don't think we should risk it."

"Then we have to take him to the hospital." Mia said.

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There seemed to be nothing but white, perhaps even a little greenish blue here and there, but white was defiantly the favorite color. Then there was that smell of cleanliness too. Overly clean in Sage's opinion. Washing away the scent of death and disease that filled this hospital every day and night. He tried not to think about it, reminding himself that everything would be alright, that they got Ryo here in time. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

"How do you suppose he got poisoned?" He focused back on the others and realized that it was Rowen who asked the question. Rowen had awoke minutes after they discovered that Ryo had been poisoned, so naturally he came along after quickly getting dressed.

"I don't know." Sage sighed.

"We're all fine, so." Kento prompted.

"You think this has something to do with our new enemy?" Cye asked.

"What else could it be?" Kento shrugged.

Mia looked at him, "Are you sure?"

"Unless there was somethin' in his drink," Kento joked.

The doctor finally came to the room where they all waited impatiently so their conversation had to stop there. Everyone looked up expectantly at him but it was Yulie who jumped up and asked the question they all wanted to ask, "Is he gonna be okay?" Mia stood up beside him and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"He was poisoned alright, but not by any substance we know. However," he smiled, loosening the tense atmosphere. "He's quite a fighter. We gave him a shot of anti-venom and he seems to be doing fine."

"So when do you think Ryo can go home?" Sage asked.

"Tonight."

It was Rowen's turn to ask a question, "Can we see him?"

"Of course," the doctor led the way to Ryo's room then left them to care for another patient.

"Hey," Ryo quietly greeted the group.

"Hey yourself," Mia replied with a small gentle smile.

"Never thought I'd end up in a hospital because of poisoning."

"Something new everyday," Kento said.

"I just hope something like this doesn't happen again," spoke Rowen.

"Yeah, we're gonna need you to fight the bad guys!" Yulie emphasized with a big smile.

"If we could figure out who they are," Sage said.

"True," Rowen agreed.

"Please, could we talk about something else?" Mia requested. "I know it's important but every time something goes wrong you bring up that topic. It just gets a little unnerving."

"Look, I know you're worried, Mia, but we have to figure this out. You are strong. Most women wouldn't be able to go through what you did and still be sane." Cye said.

"Thanks Cye. I guess I'm just a little worried."

"A perfectly healthy sign!" Kento grinned.

"It'll be okay." Yulie reassured. "Cause no one's a match for the ronin warriors!"

Mia couldn't help but smile at the little boy's enthusiasm. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo had returned home with no signs of the poison and everyone was glad to welcome him back that night. He wasn't the only one in good health though. Sage showed no signs from his strange ordeal. They couldn't push away their relief even if they still felt a little uneasy about everything.

Kasteina could sense the silent tension but didn't know what to do about it. She just stood by and tried to figure out what she should do with herself. There really wasn't anything she could do. Everyone else pretty much had their own individual jobs around the house. So like a guest that wasn't obligated to do anything, she kept out of everyone's way and watched their behavior with great curiosity. To her, humans were quite fascinating. Never had she received such a chance observe them this close. In fact, she very rarely got to see them at all. Living up in the Cold Mountains all those years as an ice fox had kept her pretty isolated. However, now she was a human and she needed to find out how to act. Often, she would imitate the others. The one named Kento often found this quite amusing, they all did actually. She was like a distraction from their worries; and any distraction was readily welcomed. Yet when it got down to it business was business and saving the world seemed to be their job. Even so, they had to get their rest. Night had fallen only hours before, meaning the ronin warriors and company were sleeping. However, sleep meant nothing to evil for evil never slept.

Sneaking in the darkness the black clad figure stole from door to door, pausing at each one as if considering. At the door in the middle of the hallway it stopped. Before opening it the figure touched its side to make sure everything was in place. Once it was certain, it crept into the room, ignoring the empty bed at the left. It was the right one the figure was interested in.

First things first, there was that tiger to contend with. Taking out a small pouch that smelled of herbs, the figure covered its nose and threw the object at the awakened tiger. Slowly, Whiteblaze's head lowered upon the floor, a low rumble of warning coming from his throat as he drifted off to sleep. Had there not been a ninja like mask on the figure's face, its smile would have been evident.

It circled around the bed so that the tiger was on the opposite side then drew a shiny dagger from the hidden sheath. Grasping the weapon in slight hesitance the figured stared down at the sleeping black haired ronin. "You have to do this." it told itself. Breathing in and out steadily, it prepared to drive the blade into its victim.

"Hey!" The figure jerked its head towards the door. Before it knew what was going on the broadly built Kento was barreling for it. Without much time left to complete its job it jabbed its dagger downwards but was stopped when a strong hand gripped its wrist.

"Drop it now!" Kento growled dangerously. The figure glared at him and with amazing strength yanked free its hand. Driving a powerful kick to his head, it flipped away, sheathing the dagger and dashing from the room.

"Ugh." Kento held his head and grumbled something under his breath. He didn't stay awake very long as the herbal mix began to make him drowsy. Try as he might he ended up asleep on the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The morning light shone in through the window and at first Kento was confused. What was he doing on the floor? Then memory struck him like lightening. "Ryo." He scrambled to his feet and shook him awake. Stepping back he let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the boy blink at him sleepily. "Oh man. I thought that guy got you for sure!"

"Kento, what are you talking about?"

"Last night there was this guy trying to kill you." Ryo sat up, apparently he didn't seem to be comprehending what he was saying at first but as Kento continued the words sank in and Ryo became alarmed. "He was going to jab you silly with his dagger but I stopped him 'n time. Gave a good kick though and ran off." Kento rubbed his head on the comment of the kick.

When the others got wind of the story they just couldn't believe it. "You know what you said earlier about Ryo's drink? I think you were right Kento, someone is trying to kill him." Cye said.

"Man, this is getting freakier and freakier." Kento muttered, rubbing his head yet again.

"But why?" Sage asked.

"It's defiantly a more efficient way to get rid of your enemy." Rowen commented. "Rather than fighting them face to face, why not get them murdered in bed?"

Kento shuddered, "That's just wrong."

"What did he look like?" Sage asked. "The killer, tell us as much as you can."

"Well, like I said before I was gonna get a snack when I saw that the guy was about to turn Ryo into a pincushion with his dagger. It was kinda jagged, had some curves in its blade. He was dressed completely in black, at least I think so, it was pretty dark. When I got close to 'im, I saw some blonde hair sticking out from his face mask. His eyes were blue, or silverish colored, I can't remember exactly. Uh.nothing else besides the fact that he had one nasty kick."

"Enemy or not, this person knew what he was doing." Rowen had been inspecting the now harmless herbal pouch. "This stuff was strong enough to knock out an elephant for a couple of hours."

"I don't get it. Why not return and kill me after Kento was out?" Ryo asked.

"Kento's face probably scared him away."

"Ha, ha, very funny, Cye."

"But you're right, Ryo." Sage said. "Why leave the job undone?" The others had nothing to say to this.

"The important thing is, Ryo's still alive." Mia spoke. Yulie agreed wholeheartedly.

"We need to stay alert. One of us will have to be with Ryo at all times." Cye said after a moment of silence.

"Here," Mia took four tooth picks, one of which she broke in half. Grasping them in her hand she let each of the boys except Ryo pick one. Sage was the one to get the shortened toothpick. "It's settled then, Sage will have to stay with Ryo today."

"Saj. say widt Ryu?" Kasteina attempted to say. She was frowning, looking at Sage, then at Ryo, and back. Her poor language made Cye blink. He knew she could talk better than that. Hearing her speak when she fought off that dog-like creature was evidence enough, she could speak quite clearly. Why was she all of the sudden having trouble pronouncing even simple words?

"Is there a problem Kasteina?" Mia asked.

The blonde, almost silver, haired girl seemed to pause, trying to form her words before she spoke. "Wong. he, no wright." Kasteina pointed at Sage.

"I'm sorry," Mia shook her head. "But I don't know what you mean."

Kasteina made a frustrated grunt. Jabbing a finger in Sage's direction in a constant matter, she said, "Wong. ewile!"

Kento and Rowen exchanged looks. Kento shrugged, he didn't know what she was trying to say. Rowen was the one to speak up.

"He's one of us, he's not the enemy." Kasteina grunted once more at these words, then with a passive sigh it looked as if she had given up. Her face lowered, blonde bangs hide her strange eyes from view. The others were silent once more and Sage made no move to counter any of the girl's words.

Rowen was staring at Sage now wondering. Kasteina's reaction to his words made him want to eat them back up. "She could be right you know." he finally spoke. "We still have no idea what happened to Sage."

"So you're saying that he's been brainwashed to kill? You think he's the one trying to kill me?" Ryo asked.

"What are we supposed to think?" That question made Ryo pause, his breath caught in his throat, the onslaught of words about to come from him halted at the edge of his tongue. He frowned and turned away.

"I just won't believe that."

"Look, if you don't trust me then pick another person." Sage tried to play peacemaker. "I know where you're coming from. I'd suspect the same thing." He agreed towards Rowen. Mia re-gathered the toothpicks, taking one away Sage was left out. It ended up Rowen would be Ryo's guard.

Kasteina sat wordlessly watching the preceding. It was as if she had given up on everything; her hands gently folded on her lap, bangs still covering her face so that the others couldn't see it. However the truth of the matter was this: she was only a girl who hardly spoke and when she tried to she couldn't get the words to work properly so she couldn't explain what she was feeling about the boy they called Sage. She also knew that she wasn't really a part of their group yet. There was something she had to do to prove who she was. Their trust in her was that which belonged to an acquaintance and had nothing to do with an ally.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Now it was just a waiting game. However there was a plan working in Ryo's mind and he had finally decided to go ahead with the bits and pieces that were forming. "We can't go on like this. I think we should try and set up a trap of sorts."

"What kind of trap?" Yulie asked looking up from his hand of uno cards. Rowen was definitely interested as well. The three of them were sitting at the dining room table playing a few card games as a means of passing time. Everyone else had drifted off in their own separate ways to do something and it appeared that the three were the only ones left in this part of the house.

"Well, I was thinking that I could go outside and stand as bait. You and the guys could be hiding nearby ready to spring forth when the killer tries to attack me and we'd be able to capture him."

Rowen raised both of his eyebrows as he lowered his cards onto the table facedown. "Sounds like a good plan, except how do we know if he doesn't have some tricks up his sleeve? I don't think he's an amateur assassin, Ryo."

"We'll just have to take that chance." Ryo said shaking his head, reluctant to back down from his plan once he'd made it.

"You're willing to risk it?" Ryo sighed then agreed. "Alright."

"I'll get the others," Yulie got up and put his cards down before running upstairs to find Sage, the only one in his room. He told him Ryo's plan then went off to tell everyone else. Kento was in the living room watching t.v. and Cye was working on a puzzle. "Ryo has an idea on how to catch the guy trying to kill him." The two ronins stood at this, Kento flipping the t.v. off. They followed him back to the others listening as Yulie relayed the plan to them.

"So you're going to go through with it then," Cye stated rather than asked. From that, Ryo figured that they all knew about his idea.

"Sounds risky, but it's not like it isn't doable." Sage said.

"Then you guys are okay with it?" Ryo asked.

"I wouldn't mind giving him a piece of my mind," Kento spoke. Obviously they were in an agreement with the idea. Especially Kento with his grin, punching one fist into his other hand. "I'd like to see how much he likes a knuckle sandwich."

"I wouldn't get carried away Kento!" Yulie laughed.

"And why not?" Kento dropped his grin and looked at the little boy.

"Because we may need to keep him alive to ask him some questions." Sage said, playing off of Yulie's words even though the boy was just goofing around. He turned the joking statement into a serious one with the words he spoke.

"Well then, I'd better be able to knock him about for a bit."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get your chance," Cye smiled.

Since it was agreed that they would go through with the plan everyone was getting ready, placing themselves in a wide circle around Ryo, hiding amongst the forage and one near the mansion, behind the jeep. Each and everyone of them was ready for what was going to come crouched in their hiding spots wearing their sub-armors. Ryo just hoped his plan would work.

He was standing out in the open in his normal clothes, staring at the lake. Mia, who had been told about the plan before hand, came out with two glasses of lemonade, handing one over to him. Both appeared slightly shaken, Ryo of course was gripping his glass and furrowing his eyebrows in slight determination as if he was trying to cast off the feeling of being frightened from just learning the fact that he had almost been killed in the middle of the night. It was all an act of course. He himself was just thinking of how this would all work out not at all really nervous about the attempt of his assassination. Mia in the mean time was just uncertain about the whole thing. This plan had to work, it just had to! Everything was depending on this. Come on Mr. Assassin, come and get me if you want me so badly.

"How's it going?" Mia asked, still playing out her part. They couldn't let the assassin know that this was a trap. That's why she had come out with the drinks. If he was just standing out there by himself it would have been too obvious of a trap.

"Ah, okay I guess." Ryo sighed, turning to her. He could sense that even though they were supposed to be acting Mia was truly asking the question and not just asking it to ask. Ryo knew he was using his own thoughts and worries to take wing and make it appear as if he was worried about what had almost happened to him. It made everything so much easier and so much more to believable. He just kept hoping that this would work.

"It's still bothering you isn't it?" A play on words. Ryo identified what she really meant as she stared at him, seeing the anxiety starting to wear away at him while they waited.

"A little." He couldn't' say it right out, so she picked it up on his reply from the first word. The rest of what he said was just a part of the act. Once again, some play with words. "I just hope he doesn't come back and try again."

"You know he will. No doubt he's tried twice already."

"I know."

"You're going to have to be more careful from now on." Ryo didn't reply. Instead he stared at the lake, his grip on the glass tightening again. He had a feeling that the assassin never really left the mansion grounds, rather he hung around waiting for any opportunity to arrive. Here was an opportunity. If he'd only take it. Of course, if it had been he who poisoned his hot chocolate it wouldn't have been very difficult to do. Ryo had accidentally forgotten his drink and so it sat in the kitchen all by itself. The assassin could have gotten in and poured the poison into the drink. Then he realized something wrong with this, a glitch in the idea, and it made him all the more frustrated. Whiteblaze would have warned them of the intruder. So that wouldn't have worked. Well, they'd find out how he had done it, granted it was indeed really him who did it. Now if only he would show up!

Mia was still looking at him, he felt her eyes on him, but when he heard her turn away he watched her go. She went back into the house without so much as a glance back. He still kept up his silence, holding the glass without even taking a sip, leaving it untouched. Perhaps it was because he wasn't thirsty, or perhaps it was because he really didn't want to drink any of it in front of the others. Either way, he left the lemonade alone. A small clank behind him caught his attention and it wasn't the ice in his drink. He narrowed his eyes in the direction of the sound.

Stepping from the tree-line, the long expected black clad assassin came towards him holding a glinting no-douchi that looked strangely familiar. Ryo narrowed his eyes even more at the sight of it. "You're the one aren't you?" There was no reply, the assassin just continued walking towards him.

Ryo let out a small growl of frustration when it didn't speak. He put his drink down on the ground and readied to fight, parting his legs slightly to get a better, firmer stance, his arms in front of him to his side raised up away from his body. In response, his opponent stopped, stepping so that he was now facing him sideways, crouching slightly he parted his legs as well, grasping his sword with one hand the other staying in mid-air right beside the blade as if to balance it. The weapon was horizontally on his other side, opposite which faced Ryo.

"Let's get on with it then!" The assassin seemed to agree with him as he suddenly charged forwards, bringing his sword's tip to his front. Ryo's words had been the signal for the others and they came out of their hiding places. He jumped away and transformed into his sub-armor, landing behind Kento, the one who had been hiding behind the jeep. Their enemy didn't seem fazed in the least. He spun his no-douchi in a wide circle about him, his assault on Ryo had temporarily been stopped, but this action kept the others back quite easily.

"Hey, where's Sage?" Ryo cast a glance at the entire group, realizing that everyone was there except the bearer of Halo.

"He should have heard you. He can't still be hiding!" Rowen said.

A muffled laugh came from the masked assassin as he took up another stance. This time bringing his sword beside him, standing straight forwards, one foot back far behind the other. A hand held onto the hilt of the sword as he leaned forward slightly so that his other hand barely touched the top edge of the blade's tip.

"You had better not have hurt him!"

"Don't jump to conclusions, Ryo," Rowen spoke.

"You're one to talk."

He couldn't understand what Ryo had meant by that but he didn't' have a chance to find out when Cye cried, "Look out!"

Both turned to the assassin who was now coming at them with an amazing speed, his sword thrust forward to find its mark through Ryo's sub-armor but the ronin managed to leap up in time and the blade passed underneath him harmlessly. The assassin looked up after him, jumping with his sword straight vertically, grasping it's hilt with both hands to steady as well as support it. While in mid-air, he suddenly changed the direction of his attack, the no-douchi slashing from a high corner above him downwards in a diagonal sweep. The blade struck but the blow was weakened when Cye jumped from the side and managed to push him away from Ryo, causing the blade of the sword to hit Ryo's shoulder but slip off and fall up and hit thin air. Flipping, the assassin turned his fall into a means of landing, his legs coiled beneath him, holding his weapon horizontally in front of him. He stood and looked at Ryo, his shoulder to be precise. Ryo didn't like the expression in his blue eyes, returning the assassin's stare with a glare. The white material covering his shoulder had been ripped and he could feel a slight sting from where the sword had made its cut.

"He's fast." Kento grumbled in surprise.

"I've never seen moves like those. Not for a long time." Rowen observed.

Ryo dug his feet into the ground and frowned. "I think it's time to armor up. Armor of Wildfire, Dao Jin!" Ryo could hear the other ronins call for their armors as the red light flashed out like bolts of lightning, snaking outwards from his clasped hands. A flurry of energy burst around him in the form of sakura petals, settling against his sub-armor and hardening into armor. Some of the flower petals landed in his outstretched hand, solidifying into a helmet. He placed it on his head then with a quick movement drew forth his twin katanas until they were in a defensive 'x' in front of him. Everyone else stood ready, fully transformed in Hardrock, Strata, and Torrent.

"Well then, what are we waiting for!" Kento asked. "Let's show him what we can do." He charged forwards, shouting his battle cry. The assassin was prepared. Turning his attention away from Ryo, whom he had been watching the entire time, he swung his sword up and brought it around as he spun, slashing the weapon down upon the attacking ronin warrior. It was blocked by the rod part of Kento's bo

"Nice try, but you'll have to do better than that!" Said the smirking Kento. It soon left his face however as the other increased the pressure on his weapon. Kento's arm muscles were shaking with effort to keep the blade from coming down upon him. Man, where is he getting his strength? This guy just ain't normal.

As the time-span of the deadlock increased a spark began to form between the sword and the bo. It grew until it shot from them like water set wildly loose after being held back by a dam. Raging to the sides in jagged power the conflicting energy then exploded, engulfing both warriors in a sphere of pure power. It died suddenly when Kento was blown back, a trail of the energy following him. Attempting to land on his feet by twisting his body as he flew in the air he ended up skidding on the ground; the face in the first few inches, the belly next, then the rest of him until he came to a complete stop. Grunting as he got to his feet he rubbed his face in pain. "Okay, you're gonna pay for that one."

The nagigata blade part of his bo cut through the air as he twirled it around. Kento assailed the assassin from the front as Cye came from the back with his yari raised to strike him on the head, hoping to knock him out while their opponent was distracted by Kento. Unexpectedly, the assassin shot upwards from in between the two before getting flanked by them. They belatedly realized what had happened as Kento blinked dazedly at Cye, who's half trident half man-catcher had conked him on the head. The bo in his hands had jabbed at the other ronin's armor but hadn't really been that deadly a blow in the first place. After all, dead men don't talk and they wanted the assassin to give an explanation of why he was trying to kill Ryo.

The assassin landed in front of Ryo. Staring in disbelief, the ronin couldn't understand how he had managed to dodge every single attack they threw at him without even barely a scratch. Fight like their lives depended on it and they might actually kill him and they didn't want to do that. However, he couldn't think of anything. There had to be something they could do. Somehow they had to knock him out. But if he kept this up, they would all be way too tired to do even that.

Ryo ducked down as the no-douchi passed over his head. Using the opportunity he was presented with, he thrashed out at the legs with his twin katanas and managed to trip up the assassin as he tried to back away from the weapons. Quickly Ryo was upon him. He wasn't taking any chances, not allowing his opponent to get back to his feet, much less crawl backwards. The assassin moved his head as he tried to get away and a katana's blade ripped through his face mask. Black cloth dropped from his face, golden hair springing free, half of which covered over one of his blue eyes.

Ryo gasped. A look of fear crossed over the assassin's face for a few seconds as he realized that he recognized him. It soon passed as he let out a small grunt of anger, and determination replaced the look of fear. He stood up as quickly as he could while the ronin was in shock and swiped out at him with his sword. Ryo jumped back, avoiding the no-douchi by a mere inch, "I can't believe it!" The response was that of another assault from the bladed weapon.

Rowen and the others stared in disbelief. "I-it's, Sage!"

"Kasteina. she. she was right." Rowen barely spoke.

Sage frowned and made a half circle with the sword and pivoted on a perfect pirouette, intending to end the battle quickly. The blade shown as a ray of sun caught it's silver edges, making it glow as it went for Ryo. He saw the shining no-douchi coming for him and was quick enough to raise his arms and block the blow so that the sword's edge were caught on his right arm guard. Ryo gritted his teeth as he used his strength to raise it upwards, trying to find a way to dislodge the sword.

"Tell me, why are you trying to kill me? Did they do something to you?" Sage didn't answer. The sword of Halo continued to bear down upon him. Now that Ryo had a better closer look at the blade, it seemed to have something devilish about it and how he hadn't noticed it before he couldn't figure that out. It was as if the no-douchi had been tinted with evil. Something did happen to him. Maybe Rowen wasn't wrong about that brainwashing idea. Maybe, just maybe I can get through to him!

"Please, Sage, stop this. I am not your enemy. I'm your friend!" Ryo tried in vain. Yet he wasn't going to give up. "I don't want to hurt you. We'll find a way to bring you back to normal. Just stop fighting us."

"I'm suppose to kill you," Sage replied flatly. Obviously none of his words were getting through but that didn't stop Ryo at all.

"No," Ryo shook his head. Sage gave an abrupt jerk on his sword and it slipped down the other's arm guard before Ryo could even say anything else. He was forced to try and quickly lower his arm and back away before the blade came down on him.

The three ronins finally got over their stupor and quickly came to Ryo's aid. Rowen and his golden bow prevented the no-douchi from getting at Ryo. Not at all intimidated by Sage's fierce expression, which would have been twice as bad with both eyes showing, Rowen returned his glare. "Who knows what happened to you exactly? Seems you're the only one who does."

"You will all die." Sage replied. "If you don't back away now."

"Sorry, but you see, that's not part of the deal." Kento said. The bo parted into a three-jointed nunchuck as he went for Sage, twisting the two ends. Cye was at the blonde's left flank with his yari ready. Sage frowned, looking at them all. They had him surrounded now. He returned his gaze to Ryo lowering his sword.

"You're friends are fools." With that he suddenly raised his sword and went forward. Ryo brought his katanas to block it, they went up and Sage had come closer than he expected with such a long sword as a no-douchi. His eyes grow wide with utter incredulity as the two weapons thrust into Sage's cloaked body and the sick sound of blade thudding through flesh pounded in his ears.

Sage stared at him and Ryo couldn't take his eyes away from his. There was pain as well as surprise in those blue voids, "H-how-w.," the blonde's hands lowered, the no-douchi falling and clanking unnoticed upon the ground. Lowering as if in slow motion, Sage began to slump after his weapon had fallen.

Ryo could barely take his shaking hands off of his twin katanas as his friend lowered upon the earth. "Sage." Bloodied blades drew out of the other ronin's body. As if they were cursed, he released them and they fell. "No. Sage.I didn't. I didn't meant it.no.don't, you can't."

What had happened was an accident. Whether Sage had know that he had come too close or not, or if he had done so on purpose, Ryo really wasn't paying attention. He didn't care about such things. Watching the ronin of wisdom crumple to the ground as the thud of his body only echoed the memory of the horrific sounds of swords going into his friend's chest. Ryo could only stare and stutter in disbelief. Nothing inside of him was willing to accept what had been done. Shock rendered his mind useless as he stood there over the dying Sage, totally deaf to the others as they came up beside him. The light touch of Cye's hand on his shoulder wasn't felt, all he did was continue to stare. Blue eyes filled with concern, wisps of auburn hair framing around the edges of a light blue helmet was nonexistent; as was the voice coming from the boy's lips. Nothing Cye tried did any good. He didn't notice Cye look away nor did he see Torrent's expression grow grim.

The only thing he saw was a strange difference in Sage's appearance. At first, through his stunned self he didn't realize anything but as the green light brightened and he felt the familiar warmth of Wildfire's connection with the other armors grow, he knew he wasn't imagining things. "What, what's going on?" His voice was barely even a whisper. It sounded foreign, cracked, but he didn't really notice. Sage was glowing green, the light protruding through the folds of the black cloak but his face was glowing blue. This blue glow intensified so much that he had to shield his eyes with his arms. When it died down Ryo looked skywards to watch the light fade into a twinkle in the distance.

"Wh.what happened?" Kento asked. Rowen and Cye were both watching the sky with Hardrock when Ryo returned his attention to Sage. However, he wasn't there anymore. He reached out with a shaky hand to touch it but the black material faded like smoke and drifted away, leaving behind a green and white sub-armor. His fingertips had barely touched the cloth when it disappeared and his only reaction was to blink in surprise. A brief glow emitted from the sub-armor, winking in and out of existence a few times before turning into green energy and swirling down like a vortex of stringy light into a small clear colored orb. "Sage." Ryo's fingers gently wrapped around the sphere and picked it up. "S-Sage!!" He suddenly broke, throwing back his head mournfully shouting his comrade's name to the air as glistening tears sprung from his tortured eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kento sighed, his right fist pressing up against his right cheek, left arm folded underneath and supporting his right elbow. Three days and there still weren't any signs of Sage. Only his armor orb remained. Ryo was being his usual self and hadn't gotten over the whole sword thing. He stayed up in his room or went outside, hardly coming in contact with the others. Kento had overheard the entire conversation that had begun Ryo's distance from them when Mia had tried to talk to him out of blaming himself.

"Ryo."

"I should have seen it! His sword was way too long to come at me so close. How could I have expected to block his attack without hurting him?"

"Ryo, stop blaming yourself. It's not your fault." Mia said, firmly but gently. "It would have been impossible to know that he would do that."

"Well I should have!" Ryo turned upon Mia with the frustrated shout. Growling he struck the wall with both hands, the pain radiating from them didn't cool his anger. His whole body was trembling as he glared at the wall. He gritted his teeth and let out another aggravated noise, then left the house, door slamming behind him. Mia closed her eyes and sadly lowered her head, a sigh escaping her.

"Ryo."

"He's still blaming himself isn't he?" Rowen had come downstairs from checking in on Sage.

"Sadly, yes. I can't talk him out of it. He's determined to take all the fault."

"Just like him too."

"I wish it was different."

"That's probably one of his best weaknesses. It shows he cares about the rest of us, gives him character."

"But it makes his reckless, Rowen."

"I know. Luck seems to be on his side though. He'll charge in even though he knows about the dangers, or even if he doesn't. It's like he'll do anything to help us." Rowen was relating to the incidents when Sage, Cye and Kento had been captured. There had also been the one time when he was going to take on that water demon all by himself at the docks without involving them.

"That's still not a good reason to take the blame of something not in his control."

"True, it isn't." Rowen was silent for a moment then added, "But we can't get through to him and let him know that. All we really can do is hope he learns it on his own."

"I hope that happens soon. I don't know how long he's going to stay together." And she was right to worry. None of it really worked, it probably never would and Kento just didn't get it. Ryo had never tried to let something, anything that happened not fall upon his shoulders and thus ended up being labeled as his fault. What his deal was Kento couldn't figure out. Okay maybe he was lying just a bit. Being the leader of the ronin warriors would qualify taking on the blame, but turning every little thing that went wrong into his fault was a bit much.

"Do you think Sage is ever going to come back Mia?"

"I don't know, Yulie, I just don't know."

"Probably not, I mean those blades went in right here," Kento indicated the areas.

"Saj no dead, fe-feel," Kasteina stumbled over the word, "tri feel." She pressed her hand flat upon her chest and hit it once or twice with the hand. When they didn't seem to realize what she was trying to say she continued the motion, becoming more urgent as well as frustrated when she attempted to communicate with them and was evidently failing.

"You mean he's still alive?" Kasteina nodded vigorously at Mia's question.

Yulie was ecstatic, "Do you know where he is?" The young blonde woman's animation was suddenly cut short, she lowered her head sadly.

"I'd take that as a no." Rowen said quietly.

"Man this bites." Kento grumbled.

Yulie looked back out the window with a slow inhale and exhale of breath, resting his chin behind the folded arms in front of him, all of which was on the window sill. He continued to stare without a real cause wishing Sage would return. It was so strong a wish that he thought he was beginning to see something coming and at first he thought he saw something golden. As it drew nearer he decided his imagination must have been running away with him for there was Sage riding atop of a bat-winged tiger with fire dancing around its neck. Why would he imagine him riding a creature like that, he never saw it before in his entire life? Yulie blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked again. No, he wasn't seeing things, he was sure of it now. "Sage! It's Sage! He's come back!" His sudden outburst had everyone in its grasp.

"What?" Rowen stood and looked out the window as Yulie dashed outside. Everyone came out much slower, disorientated and mystified but when they saw that it really was indeed Sage they brightened at the sight of their missing friend. Ryo had heard Yulie's cry and came out from his room to stand behind the others already gathered on the driveway.

"Hey, wait a minute." Kento frowned. "How do we know you're the real Sage and not just some brainwashed version or something?"

The winged creature stopped before them and Sage got off its back. "Do not worry, this is your friend. The other has been destroyed and returned to her proper place." The tiger spoke and the ronins just stared at it at first. They hadn't expected it to be a talking animal. It seemed to take no notice of this and continued, "What I say is the truth, you may trust me."

"I believe you," Ryo's head moved up and down slowly. The way he said it almost sounded like he was in a trance. It was so quiet but it was sincere and there wasn't that far off look empty look in his eyes that usually accompanied such a spell. Each person in the group was silent but it was clear that they agreed.

Glancing up at Sage for a few seconds the creature turned away and then left, disappearing among the group of trees further down on the one side of the driveway.

"Did that thing just call Sage a girl?" Kento asked, his expression changing to match his statement.

"I'll explain everything," Sage said chuckling at the other ronin. "Come on, it's a long story so I think you should all sit down." Going back inside the group found a spot around the dining room table and looked at him as he began.

"Well, I think a good spot to start would be with that mutant wolf. Our enemy used their power to morph it obviously. The black substance I found on the wall had been leftover from its transformation. Apparently, it was some kind of acid, or decaying matter. I didn't know what it was before, of course, but the evening I disappeared that acid was able to strengthen until it was able to transport me to the Genki, our enemy. Let me explain a little about them first before I go on. They're like scientists if you will. Usually they manipulate something else to do their work for them. Anyway, what they want with the mortal realm is still unclear, the Unbalancer never told me. Oh, that's the tiger you saw me riding by the way. Alright now where was I before."

"Something about the Genki?" Yulie offered.

"No before that." he thought for a moment. "I remember now. Thanks though Yulie. So I had been connected to one of the Genki, Nica the Genki of Black Chem. or rather decay because of the black acid. He found me useful to their cause and took me. I had been under some kind of trance and all I can remember was floating in a black void. An enchantment was placed upon me to make me sleep while they preformed their plan. They had found a way to separate me into two without killing me or my connection to my armor. My second half had all my memories and couldn't be distinguished from me because it had the same genetic makeup I do as well as my armor. Halo wouldn't have noticed the difference so it was quick to accept this new bearer. The only change was that my copy was programmed to kill the lost mystic of dreams or the Dream Bearer as they sometimes call him."

"That means, Ryo, you're the lost mystic of dreams!" Rowen exclaimed. Ryo didn't know what to say or how to react to that. Sage just nodded.

"To explain why the Unbalancer called my twin a she was because the Genki had one problem: they couldn't make an exact duplicate. Instead of being male, she was a female. I guess you guys never realized that then huh?"

"Eh-heh. that explains a lot." Kento said.

"She wasn't spending that much time in the bathroom," Cye rolled his eyes.

"Sometimes it seemed that way." Kento replied.

"When Ryo had killed her," Sage went on unfazed by the two friend's comments. "Her spirit returned to me. That was how the Genki were able to keep the link of the Halo armor stretched between the two of us. They managed to steal a part of my soul that connected the armor to me so she would be able to use the armor freely if she had to. Somehow, my armor didn't return with her and it was a good thing too. There was some kind of poison within Halo from her when we were separated from one another. Another part of their plan. If she ended up being discovered or killed, then she would return, armor and all, and kill me. Unbalancer was able to find me and brought me back, although it took a while for him to heal me. I wish he had told you that I was safe.It appears that he had his own reasons."

"See Ryo, you didn't kill Sage, you helped him!" Yulie cheered.

"There's one thing I don't understand," Rowen shook his head. "How come your armor stayed here with us? What kept it from returning to you?" There never was an answer because no one knew. Even with all their thinking they came up empty handed.