Sakura stopped running and sat down on a rock and choked back a sob, 'Ryo' she thought to herself. 'You're such a jerk sometimes.' Kero bounded up to where she was sitting and sat down beside her and put his paw on her knee. She smiled at him.
"Kero, you always know just what I need don't ya buddy?" she said as she scratched him behind his ear. White Blaze appeared soon after Kero, followed by Mia and Yulie.
"There you are." Mia said panting. "Boy, you sure run fast."
"Well, nobody was supposed to follow me." She said coldly.
"Sakura, why do you hate Ryo?" little Yulie asked innocently. "He just wants to make sure that you don't get hurt. You're his top priority." Yulie said thinking back to a conversation he had over heard between Ryo and the others.
Sakura smiled at him. "Yeah, I know." She said. "He's just trying to protect me, and he wants to be able to focus on the fight and not me."
"Then why did you tell him that you hate him?" Yulie persisted.
"I shouldn't have said that, but he made me so mad. He thinks that I need him to protect me. I'm a warrior too you know." Sakura said indignantly.
"He knows that." Mia said gently. "He's just been a little overly worried about you right now."
"Yeah, I know." Sakura said guiltily. "I guess I shouldn't have been so overdramatic."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kento slowly pushed open the huge gate that separated the outer courtyard from the outside of the gate. The Ronins advanced slowly prepared for anything that might decide to leap out and attack them.
"Keep your eyes open guys," Sage advised.
"I love this spy stuff." Kento joked.
The others gave him an exasperated look as the continued closer. They suddenly saw a shadowy figure appear out of the mist that had just recently formed.
It resembled a giant spider when it moved. The mist cleared long enough for the Ronins to observe Dais when he launched his first attack. Sending out the sickles on his back he threw them at the Ronins, Cye dodged one just in time to dodge another. Ryo took out his sword and tried to cut the thread that was attached to the sickles, but it wouldn't cut. Dais laughed evilly.
"Nice try Ronin, but the thread on my sickles can't be cut by an ordinary sword." He laughed again as he sent out another wave of sickles and threads to avoid. Cye and Kento had already been tied up by the thread and Ryo and Sage were trying to untangle Rowen when they got caught themselves. Dais strung them up on a gigantic spider web and started gloating.
"Come on guys, think there must be away to break the thread." Ryo yelled at the others struggling to break free.
Dais laughed cruelly, "struggle all you like Ronins, it won't help you." He laughed as he pulled the cocooned Ryo toward him.
"You will be the first to die."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sakura jerked her head up.
"Something's wrong." She said, worry edging her voice.
"Why do you say that?" Yulie asked.
"I feel it to." Mia said. That confirmed it as the small group headed back toward the front gate. They had just passed through the gate when the air was filled with the ghosts of ancient priests. The whizzed continuously around their heads forming a dark cloud around them, blinding them, till they retreated out of the gate.
"Now what are we going to do?" Mia asked alarmed. "We need to get to them, but we can't move in that cloud of ghosts. Sakura nodded her agreement, but had no idea of how to get past them. Her necklace started to glow as Sakura took it off to examine it.
"Why is it glowing?" Yulie asked.
"I don't know," Sakura replied dumfounded. "It's never done this on it's own before." She clasped the glowing crystal firmly in her right hand. She felt the crystal grow warm as it started to enlarge. The crystal turned into a glowing blue staff similar to the one she had seen Ancient use. The staff stopped glowing and turned a golden color. Holding it forward Sakura went through the gate followed by the others. The staff formed a barrier around them blocking off the ghosts as they hurried forward. The ghosts hovering around outside the barrier disappeared to reveal the Ronins strung up like flies in a web with Dais about to administer the killing stroke to Ryo. Sakura grabbed a ring off of the staff and held it in her hand until it glowed blue with her magic energy. She threw the ring like a ninja throwing star at Ryo's binds cutting him free. Dais shouted his anger as Ryo transformed into his armor. After Sakura cut all the others free her staff returned to the normal shape of the crystal. Replacing it around her neck she joined the fight. Dais was still wildly throwing his sickles and the Ronins were having a difficult time avoiding them. One headed straight for Ryo, whose back was turned. Sakura dove and pushed him out of the way. The result was a jagged cut from the sickle that went from her knee to her ankle. She quickly rolled out of the way of another sickle. Ryo turned and saw that Sakura was hurt used his Flare up technique sending Dais running for his life. After the battle had subsided and everyone was nursing their wounds, Sakura gently placed herself on a rock and examined her leg.
"How is it?" Ryo asked coming over to her.
"It's not too deep, I'll be ok." She said looking up at him. The two shared an awkward silence when Sakura spoke up. "Ryo," she said trying to stand up. She gasped as pain shot up her leg and she fell forward. Ryo reached out and caught her around her waist holding her up. Sakura looked into his blue eyes, their faces only inches apart.
"I'm sorry for saying that I hate you. I don't, I was just mad that you wouldn't let me come in with you guys." She said avoiding his eyes.
"Do you know why I didn't want you to come in?" he asked her gently as he turned her head so that she was looking at him. "It's because I was worried about you."
"But, why? Do you think of me as a little girl who needs protecting?" she asked mesmerized by the gentle look in his cool blue eyes.
"No," he answered softly gazing into her golden eyes. "It's because I love you." He finished as he leaned in and gently pressed his lips against hers.
Sakura returned the kiss and put her arms around his neck hugging him closer. They broke apart, Sakura gazing at him.
"I love you too Ryo Sanada." And with that she kissed him again more passionately this time. Ryo felt as though his heart was going to explode. She loved him back. He had been so afraid that she only thought of him as a friend, but she loved him. This was the most perfect day of his life as the two continued their kiss oblivious to the fact that of where they were and the job they had to do. All they cared about for the time being was being with each other.
The others stood back together in a group watching the two finally convey their feelings for each other.
"About time." Mia said. "Those two have had it bad for each other ever since they first met."
"It's kind of weird." Kento said. "You never would have thought it would happen."
"Never thought what would happen?" Rowen asked him.
"That Ryo of the Wildfire, the unofficial leader of the Ronin warriors, would have fallen in love with Sakura, Talpa's daughter."