The crow flew high over the trees the medallion still hanging from its neck. The bird flew until it reached the shadow lands where it perched on top of tree surveying the surroundings. Everything was desolate, because the Shadow lands never got much sun, hence the name Shadow lands. The bird looked until it found what it was looking for, a young woman dressed in black. The crow flew over to her and landed on her shoulder.
"I was wondering when you were going to return." The woman said to the crow. Removing the medallion from the crow, she clenched it tightly in her hand.
"I better go return this to your master." She said. "You can do whatever you wish for the rest of the day."
The crow, his duty accomplished, took off from her shoulder and flew towards the Ronin lands. The blond haired woman holding the medallion quickly turned and started to walk away quickly disappearing into the mists that were now covering the land.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sakura saw Ryo trudging up the path before he saw her. Walking out the house she went out to greet him.
"What was it this time?" she asked him.
Ryo sighed wearily, "Another robbery. That's all."
"Must have been a pretty big robbery for Yulie to think that your expertise was needed," she said jokingly.
"Funny," he answered. "It really wasn't that big. Just a couple of low class thieves breaking into a jewelry store." He said as the walked towards the house.
As they stepped into the house they were greeted by Sage, Kento, Cale, and Dais. They were sprawled in front of the TV watching the news.
"Hey Ryo, just saw ya on the tube." Kento said indicating the news report on the robbery.
"Great." Ryo said falsely as he plopped down on the sofa next to Cale.
"So how was it?" Sage asked him, clicking off the TV.
"Nothing really that big." Ryo answered. "But there was something funny about the robbery though." He said thinking about it.
"What was that?" Kento asked curiously.
"It wasn't even a robbery; not really, it was more of a breaking and entering." He said.
"Maybe they didn't get a chance to steal anything before you came and stopped it." Sakura suggested finding a seat on the sofa next to Ryo.
"No, they were about to leave before I got there. It was almost like they were looking for something." Ryo said puzzled.
"That's the fourth one this month." Said Mia entering through the kitchen door, followed by Anubis and Cye.
"But who breaks into a jewelry store and doesn't take any jewels?" Cye asked.
"Apparently someone not looking for jewelry." Anubis answered sarcastically.
"Thank you Captain Obvious." Cye retorted good naturedly.
"But something doesn't make sense to me." Sakura said. "If they were just looking for something, why go through the trouble of breaking in and risk getting caught? And in broad daylight?"
"Maybe they did take something." Dais suggested.
By now the entire group was in the living room discussing the mysterious robberies.
"But the police asked the manager if anything was missing and he said everything was accounted for." Sage said.
"It doesn't make sense." Mia said. Just then Kero followed by White Blaze came bounding into the room.
"Kero! No!" Sakura demanded, but the large tiger headed right for her and jumped on her lap and started licking her face.
"Kero!" her muffled voice from under him yelled. "Get off you heavy thing!" with a great heave she managed to get him off. "Now what was that all about, you have my attention now." Sakura asked petting his head. Kero purred his contentment and lay down at her feet. Sakura laughed, "You when you want attention" she said. "You need to behave more like White Blaze." She admonished as Kero fell asleep on her feet. The group laughed at Kero's antics and Sakura felt a surge of happiness. It was great that they were all living under one roof. She, Ryo, the other Ronins, and the Warlords, plus Mia and an occasional visit from Yulie made a total of twelve people in one house. Sure she wished that she and Ryo could get a little privacy every now and then, away from the teasing eyes of the others and occasional jealous looks from Dais, who still had a crush on her, but she wouldn't trade it for anything. The clock chimed six as they got up to prepare dinner. Sakura and Ryo stayed on the couch as he put his arm around her shoulders.
"So," he whispered in her ear. "When do we get to finish our session?" he asked.
Sakura smiled as she turned to face him. "Do you mean the training or the kiss?"
"I think you know which one I mean." He said as he leaned in closer.
"Guys, you coming?" Cye's voice called from the kitchen.
Ryo leaned his head back on the couch and sighed aggravated.
Sakura laughed, "Apparently it's not time to finish it yet." She said as she stood up and pulled Ryo to his feet.
"Fine, but we are going to finish." He warned.
Sakura's eyes sparkled mischievously, "can't wait." She said as they headed towards the kitchen.
