Chapter Seven - Faithfulness

"They're coming, you know... you won't win," Kayura heaved as she struggled against the unseen black wall amidst the darkness. "They defeated even me, and I had the power from the Clan of the Ancients," she stated.

Talpa ignored her. He simply watched his Warlords' strength give out a second time. If his sinister mask had facial movements, he would definitely have an evil smirk across his face. "The Warlords are mine once again. They are fused with the power of the nether spirits hundreds of times over. They have power beyond imagination, and after they defeat those postulant Ronin Warriors, that power shall be mine!" Talpa stated with triumph.

Kayura grimaced, for she knew he was right, but she never lost hope. After all, Anubis was alive and had the Staff of the Ancients. He could create a bridge to bring the Ronins to the Dynasty and stop this menace.

"Sekhmet, Warlord of Venom! I command you come forth!" Talpa bellowed, breaking Kayura's concentration. Within a second, a wisp of venomous smoke blew by and there appeared Sekhmet, fully armored. Talpa raised his hand high and in his hand appeared his six katanas. Presenting them to Sekhmet as he did the soldiers before, he cackled lightly as Sekhmet sheathed each sword.

"I bestow upon you the great eastern plains. Let your venom flow into the rivers and poison the land in preparation for the arrival of the Ronins," Talpa instructed.

"As you wish, Sire," Sekhmet agreed as he kneeled.

Talpa again held out his hand but this time in front of him as if preparing to present Sekhmet with something else. A small blue flame appeared in his palm, not burning it, but hovering above it. "You are charged with guarding this flame with your life. Protect it well, my servant, and you shall be greatly rewarded."

Kayura looked on with surprise. What is this flame? Why has he given it to Sekhmet? she pondered.

He took it in his hands and gazed upon it as if he felt great power from it. "I am honored, Sire; I shall guard it with the very soul in my body." And he vanished as quickly as he appeared.

"What are you up to, Talpa?" Kayura questioned nervously.

He ignored her and turned to his balcony like entrance way. "Cale, Warlord of Corruption! I command you come forth!" Talpa bellowed a second time.

Without a word or sound, a silhouette of Cale's armor appeared with only enough light to outline. "You summoned me, Master?" he asked quietly.

Talpa towered over the kneeling Cale and held out his hand. "Demon of Darkness, I bestow upon you the northern mountains. Forge yourself a stronghold in preparation for the destruction of the Ronin Warriors." And as he finished his proclamation, another blue flame appeared hovering over his hand. "You are charged with guarding this flame with your life. Protect it well, my servant, and you shall be greatly rewarded," he repeated.

Cale also seemed to have shock written on his face as he accepted the flame. "Many thanks, my lord." Cale finished by disappearing into the darkness.

"Talpa, I demand to know your ideals behind this!" Kayura shouted, struggling in her shackles.

"Patience, my Lady Kayura, you shall have your turn. You have no armor for me, thus I shall not need you directly. However, you are an asset to me; you will receive your share of the flame." Talpa seemed to chuckle to himself as he turned to beckon his final warlord. "Dais, Warlord of Illusion! I command you come forth!" he bellowed one last time.

Footsteps were heard but nothing could be seen in the distant blackness. Soon, almost in a flash Dais appeared and respectfully kneeled before Talpa. "I am here, sire." His voice echoed from behind his mask.

Talpa presented his hand with the flame. "I bestow upon you the great western forests. Weave your web of illusion and prepare for your glorious triumph over the Ronin Warriors that shall foolishly enter your trap." Dais seemed to snicker at the thought and carefully took the flame from Talpa's hand. "You are charged with guarding this flame with your life. Protect it well, my servant, and you shall be greatly rewarded," Talpa stated for the third and final time. Dais simply disappeared in a wave.

All that remained was Talpa and Kayura, and Talpa was laughing evilly as if he had deceived each of his Warlords with ease. "Talpa! I demand to know right now!" Kayura furiously argued.

"You are in no position to demand anything!" Talpa snapped in his deeply evil voice. "But you will know soon enough, Kayura." Talpa took a moment to laugh at his sinister plan. "Yes, Kayura, you have been patient! I shall now bestow upon you your share of the Flame of Damnation!"

Kayura gasped. She recalled slithers of memory about the dreaded flame and even worse ideals of any being that could control it.

Before Kayura could continue her thoughts, Talpa thrust his hand out before her and the flame appeared once more. Her eyes were wide with fear as she tried to back further into the wall. "Accept it, Kayura! You are weak enough to be taken without the spirits! You need this strength!" he cackled toward her as he approached.

She struggled violently in her bounds as the flame came within an inch of her face. With the flame still hovering in his hand, he forced his armored palm into Kayura's face making her cry out as she felt the searing heat. She struggled wildly but Talpa's hand was swallowing her screams in its mass. Soon her body went limp and Talpa removed his hand. Her eyes were shaded in the same style as her earlier Warlord times but this shade was a deep black opposed to the red in the past.

Talpa didn't laugh, cackle, howl or bellow. He simply stood triumphantly over Kayura as if total victory had come in a simple glimpse of time.

"Ouch! Damn it!" Sage cried out on the couch as he tried to adjust his seating. He put his hand to the large bandages that wrapped his ribs.

"You know you're not supposed to move around! Would you just relax!" Rowen tried to calm him while placing his book back on the coffee table.

"We can't just sit here and play busybody! We have to do something about this!" he protested, trying to get to his feet.

Rowen forced him down by the shoulders back onto the couch and retook his seat on the armchair. "There's nothing we can do right now. I know we should go in and get Talpa before he has a chance to get any real power, as before, but for right now, we're on defense."

Sage folded his arms and grunted. "I told you this would happen. Ryo just can't focus."

"I know how you must feel, but Ryo reacted off of instinct, not just because he likes Mina more than the rest of us."

"Humph..."

"Look, the Ancient and the Armors have always led us to defend those who can't protect themselves; Ryo was just doing the only thing he knows how to do, and that's protecting people. Granted, he gets a little over- defensive, but still, it's like too much of a good thing."

"Why do you defend him so much? What has he ever done for you?"

"I don't place a value on our friendship! You can't put a price on something like that!"

"Well, you are taking his side a lot here. You do know he screwed up royally," Sage said while rubbing the moist blood-tinted bandages.

"Yeah, I know, but, I think I would have done the same thing in his situation."

Sage looked at his friend oddly. "How can you say that?"

Rowen stood up from his seat and began to walk out of the room. "Because I'm just as lonely as he is," he whispered to himself leading into the kitchen. He was about to walk right in, plop down into a chair somewhere and have something cold to drink, but his plans were put on hold as he saw long golden hair adorned with a red bow flow over the back of the chair. He recognized it was Mina as he turned his head sideways to get a glimpse of her face. She was rapping her fingers on a glass of something but seemed to be staring off out the window.

Rowen never took much notice before because of all the awkward situations that had risen, but Mina was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He couldn't help but envy Ryo as he gazed upon her flawless face that seemed to be enhanced by the sun setting through the window.

"Are you really all that mad at him?" Rowen interrupted her silence.

Mina turned quickly as she was surprised but settled and turned her head down to her drink. "To be honest, I really don't know," she stated calmly.

"You know he only had your best interests in mind," he said, taking a seat in front of her.

"I'm sure he thought of it that way, but he was wrong. How could he keep something like that from me? I thought we were in love and had no secrets."

Rowen rubbed the back of his head a little; he never really enjoyed the topic of love but he was determined to help his friend. "You have to understand this part of Ryo. He's quite overprotective when it comes to people he cares about, and in your case, I think he must have a huge place in his heart for you if he's risking the greatest thing he has in life just to keep you safe." Mina looked up at him and seemingly blushed. She does that a lot, Rowen thought, and she always looks so cute too...

"I'm flattered that you think I'm the greatest thing in Ryo's life, but..."

Rowen cut her off at her pause. "I'm not guessing. You really are all Ryo has. I can tell, he values you much more than his armor, and I can see why." And Rowen cut himself off. Easy there, she's with Ryo, he scolded himself. He looked up to see if she took his compliment seriously. She was looking at her drink again and blushing harder. Damn it...

Mina looked up with sparkling eyes that had questions written all over them. "Can I ask you something?"

Rowen seemed to get nervous but before he could think of what the repercussions might be, his lips spouted the word "Sure," and all thought was lost.

"What are all of you? What is happening to the planet?" she asked.

Rowen sighed and folded his arms, thinking of where to begin. "Well, it all pretty much started in Toyoma..." he began.

He wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, he found himself lost in her eyes as she intently hung onto every word he spoke. He wasn't even sure if he was telling her the right story as he admired every aspect of her face. Rowen could feel his chest tightening and his cheeks blushing. Is this what Ryo had to go through?! he asked himself as he took a breath and then continued.

Mina simply continued to nod and listen intently on what he had to say and he was using some of the most verbose vocabulary he could thoughtlessly think of and she was hanging onto every word. Rowen became more and more flustered as his eyes started to rove down her face, but being the gentlemen, he couldn't bring himself to be so vulgar, or at least in his mind. He quickly finished off his story. "And after that, we've been on our own for two years. Everything else you know." He was done speaking but he still seemed to be holding his breath.

"Wow..." she said simply.

"Yeah, I know, sometimes I can't believe it myself." he replied.

"Is it all right if I go apologize to Sage? It is partly my fault for what happened to him."

Rowen was tense but did a remarkable job of hiding it. "You shouldn't blame yourself, but if it makes you feel better, he's in the living room."

Mina stood up from her seat and smiled. "Thank you, I appreciate it very much. I hope we can talk again," she said as she trotted off.

Rowen sat stiff as a board, chanting to himself, "Don't watch her leave, don't watch her leave..." Soon Mina was gone and Rowen let out a large breath and buried his red face into his hands.

"Oh, man! You're a smooth one, buddy!" was heard from the corner of the room.

Rowen snapped up in panic and embarrassment as he saw Kento with his arms folded and leaning against the wall and a devious smile on his face. "I didn't do anything, Kento! Wipe that smile off your face!" Rowen shouted.

"That's all well and good, man, but you realize if Ryo ever gets wind of this, he'll chop you to ribbons," he replied.

Rowen had panic, fear, anger and embarrassment filling him to the brim as he became defensive towards Kento. "It just looked bad! I didn't do anything wrong! It's not like I made a move or anything!" he pleaded.

Kento just chuckled and slapped Rowen on the back. "It's cool, man, it's cool." Kento was just happy that something got his mind off the Dynasty for a little while.

Mina was walking the halls unheard as her white socks muffled the sound of her footsteps. She came into the lavish living room and found Sage struggling in the sofa trying to get comfortable with his injuries, grunting with every wrong move. "Are you all right?" she asked in her concerned voice.

Sage looked up in surprise. He didn't want to be aching and grunting in front of anybody, and he was also a little embarrassed. All he had on was a pair of Dockers and bandages covering his ribs and shoulder. He felt completely underdressed. He had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, for as he grew older his body was more defined, but with his injury, he just felt weak and a little ashamed.

"I've come to apologize," Mina continued.

"Apologize? What for? You can't possibly think this is your fault!" Sage retorted.

The look she gave in return was not that of a convinced person, she looked on with those concerned eyes and Sage was captured just as Rowen. "It's my fault. If I wasn't out there and in the way, you could have all gotten out without a mark."

"I said it wasn't your fault, if Ryo had just told you about this from the beginning... No, I shouldn't blame this on Ryo."

"I know it may seem a little awkward, but he should have told me about it, I could have been prepared for it and maybe had enough sense to get out of the way."

"I told him it wasn't a good idea to lie about it but he did say he was trying to protect you."

"By not telling me of the dangers that follow him around?! Is that really protecting me?!"

"Well, no, I suppose not."

"I know Ryo means well but, he just doesn't know what he's doing when it comes to a relationship, especially with all this armor stuff following him around. I mean I think I would have understood if he just told me, but him just letting it fall out and hit me... well, it didn't really hit me, it kinda hit you."

"Heh heh - ouch!" Sage clasped his side again, every little movement seemed to hurt. Mina was immediately concerned and put a hand to his shoulder and the other to his stomach. He looked up again in surprise but something else accompanied it. It almost felt like... soothing. When Mina touched him, for that instant, that split second, all the pain was gone. "I - I'm all right," he stuttered.

"No, you're not! No wonder you're hurting every way you move! Look at those bandages!" Mina scolded in a motherly tone.

Sage looked over the wrappings and couldn't find what was the matter with them. "What about the bandages?" he asked sheepishly.

"They're all disorganized! You'd think a number of people did this; this isn't going to help you at all," she stated as she began to unwrap the blood-soaked cloths. Sage was a little nervous at first but something else overcame him that let her continue.

Soon all the bandages were piled neatly onto a towel nearby and Sage could tell that Mina was admiring his torso. He didn't feel embarrassed about it anymore because after all, being a Ronin Warrior made sure you were in peak physical condition. The only blemish Mina could find was the long gash on his side leading to his chest, and it was still fresh.

"Um... where, uh... where is the first aid kit?" she fumbled out.

Sage was starting to feel impressed with himself as he laid back carefully and pointed to the corner of the room. Sage watched her ever so closely as she walked with her quiet footsteps, every swish and swerve of her hips, the flowing pleats of her skirt, every sway of her hands at her sides, it was hypnotizing. What really threw off Sage was when she bent over to pick up the medicine kit. "Good Lord!" he exclaimed at the sight.

He immediately froze in panic as Mina snapped up and worriedly asked "What?! What's the matter?!"

Sage thought quickly and put his hands over his laceration. "It hurts more than I thought!" he covered quickly. He stared at Mina a moment, fearing that she may find out what he was actually peering at.

Mina let out a huff and walked in the "mother told you so" fashion, shaking her head. "I told you to stay still, didn't I? Now carefully sit up so I can take care of that gash."

Sage did as he was told sighing in relief as the red in his face disappeared. Mina carefully aided him in sitting upright and told him to outstretch his arms. He did so, gingerly yet successfully. Mina examined the large gash that was failing greatly at trying to scab itself. She put something on the bandages to protect from infection and started to wrap it around Sage's ribcage.

Sage was watching Mina come close, then pull away, come close again, and repeat the motions as she wrapped him tightly. It was astonishing to him how good this felt. The bandages were starting to come to his upper chest and he could feel that she had done everything right. Also with her chin nearly resting on his shoulder and her arms around his waist, he could also tell why Ryo hugged her every chance he got.

Even though he had not experienced a full embrace from Mina, Sage could tell that it would truly be a great feeling to take part in. It did have that protective mother feel but he could also tell that it had great heart and love behind. Ryo has found himself a great woman, he stated to himself. Mina was almost completed. "Where did you learn to do this so well?" he asked, this time aloud.

She slowed her pace to a stop as she thought back to answer the question. "I used to stay over at Ryo's place when my parents were out of town for their two weeks, and just about every time I was over there he had busted ribs. He never told me how he got them, but I could see clearly that they were bruised. So, like he took care of me after Tiro, I took care of him. It's still odd, though, only now I find out how he injured himself like that."

Mina made one more lap of Sage's torso before she stopped again to listen. "Despite how obvious it might be, it was actually the Ancient's training that busted up Ryo so bad," he explained.

"The Ancient? The one that made your armors, right?"

Sage looked a little surprised at Mina's words but then smirked as he pieced it together. "Talking to Rowen, I see."

"Yeah, he explained a lot. Well, as far back as three years. He really didn't explain how you became the 'Mighty Ronin Warriors' or anything."

"That's where the Ancient came in. He was pretty harsh on Ryo, that's why he came to you all those times with the ribs."

"Why was he so hard on him?"

"The Armor kind of fell on him when he showed 'Virtue', but that's not the reason."

"Well then, what is?"

"The Ancient didn't choose him."

"What? Then how did he become a Ronin?"

"White Blaze was with Ryo since he was little, but White Blaze was with the Ancient since feudal times."

"Are you saying it's jealousy?"

"Oh, by no means! The Ancient was hard on Ryo because he wasn't 'selected', for lack of a better word. Ryo was kind of a fluke, you know?"

"It didn't look like he lived up to expectations today."

"Yeah, I know, Ryo drifts off like that. Overburdens himself, takes in too much responsibility. He just isn't good enough for this type of thing."

"Its amazing how overly mature he can be at times and at others, show that he didn't have any parental discipline."

"That's Ryo to a tee. All or nothing. I could tell you stories..."

"I'm all ears."

Sage dropped out of his quiet tone and looked at Mina staring into his eyes. He didn't expect Mina to ask to hear any, that was just a term he used. He would have said so, but he felt he had to do something to repay her for wrapping him up, which was feeling rather good and soothing. "Well, I uh, don't really know what to tell. What would you like to hear?" he offered.

"How about how you all got your armors?" she requested.

Sage looked at the ceiling in thought; he thought of something quickly and then looked back down at Mina. "We never really discussed much about how we received our armors; we had to focus on the fights at hand. Rowen was always shooting fruit off trees, Kento was always breaking Ryo's ribs, and I was always breaking Sai's weapon. I could tell you how I got my armor, I remember it clear as day." Mina smiled and began to tie off the two ends of the long bandages at his side. "Let's see..."

A young man no older than the age of twelve or thirteen was meditating in a dojo. He was fresh off from a great kendo tournament victory but he showed no great ego over it as it was against what he was taught as a child. It was obvious that his upbringing was rather strict by the way he carried himself.

With one eye covered, he opened the exposed eye to notice a kendo fighter speaking with his grandfather at the dojo entrance. He hears his name a few times and the kendo tournament mentioned. The boy breaks away from his meditation as his grandfather introduces the new kendo warrior.

"Sage, this is Shingo Kazamatsuri. As you know, he is a great fighter in the leagues of kendo." Sage bows to Shingo before his grandfather continues. "He has heard of your great success in the Kendo Championship but unfortunately he wasn't able to compete. You will be facing him in a kendo match today."

Sage looked up at his father with surprise and annoyance. "But, Grandfather, I do not wish to fight today," he said with as much maturity as possible.

"Silence, boy, you have been challenged and you shall fight. Prepare yourself and meet in the dojo grounds."

Sage didn't want to fight. He wanted to tell his grandfather how disgusted he was with it, but somewhere during his upbringing, he had family submissiveness beat into him.

Sage adjusted his face guard and tightened his belt on his kendo uniform. Clasping tightly on his staff he awaited his opponent on the grounds his grandfather had forced him to meet on. Shingo came out onto the field and looked fierce. Being a number of years older than Sage, it seemed that it would be an easy battle but in kendo, size and age don't make much difference.

Without either getting proper preparations for this battle, they began with their lightening speed. As the battle drew on, despite Sage's attitude be cool calm and collected, panic was written all over his face as the way Shingo battled seemed to portray a man trying to absolutely destroy the young kendo champion.

"This isn't a match, it's a slaughter! Please stop this, Grandfather! Sage is grossly outmatched!" Sage's older sister pleaded. The old man stood statuesque watching the battle. Sage wasn't truly at a disadvantage as he was simply taken off guard by Shingo's merciless offence. Once it was under control, Sage retaliated realizing that Shingo had little or no defense. As Sage took the offensive, it seemed that he had no trouble at all dealing with the massive fighter.

Sage was about to deliver the finishing blow to his opponent and Shingo knew it. With lightning-quick speed, he pulled something from his uniform and tossed it into the one eye of Sage. The young champion stumbled back but wasn't in danger as his attacks left Shingo barely able to stand. Sage let the white hot anger fill him as he let loose the rage onto his opponent breaking off his face guard kicking him unconscious.

"Sage!" his grandfather cried out.

Sage knew why he had the angry tone; breaking away the face mask was a severe dishonorment and a high offense to the rules of kendo. "Grandfather, he threw..." he spoke up to explain his actions, but he was silenced by his grandfather.

"I do not wish to hear of it! You have greatly dishonored the Date Dojo of Kendo!" And before Sage could speak back, his grandfather ruthlessly wrenched him up by the shoulder and dragged him to the basement for punishment.

"Grandfather, you don't understand! Grandfather, please!" he begged, hammering on the heavy wooden door. With the door locked and very little light in the dojo basement Sage was rather upset, angered and scared all at once. It was a large room but in the all-consuming blackness he felt almost claustrophobic.

Defensively wrapping his knees to his chest, he unceremoniously meditated to try to calm himself. He tried to remember what his grandfather had taught him about keeping fear in check but at his current disgust towards the old man, he didn't want to have anything to do with him. He let the fear surround him, all the while cursing his own weakness.

Running the situation over and over in his mind, keeping his feelings betrayal fresh, he heard a voice in the back of his head. "I understand your feelings..." it echoed.

He snapped around quickly as he thought there was someone with him in this dank lonely pit. "There's no one here... I'm alone," he stated out loud, trying to settle his nerves but also at the same time enducing his own depression.

"I shall be with you..." the voice spoke again. Sage felt the panic that he was suppressing well up him larger than ever before. It was not so much he would be scared but in the darkness, it was too much.

As soon as that thought entered his mind, a small light caught the corner of his eye. He followed it to its source and what he found but him in a state of shock. A large glowing green armor seemingly floating in the darkness. "I am yours, Warrior of Light," it spoke to his mind.

Sage was still in shock but he managed to stutter out a response. "Wh- who are you?" he asked in a whisper.

"I am Halo, your protectorate."

Sage stared in awe at the glowing armor. Soon there was another light behind him and with a flick of a switch, the hanging lights added to the feudal dojo storeroom filled it with light. Sage looked back to see his grandfather at the top of the steps with an apologetic look on his face. Sage looked immediately to the armor which seemed to have vanished as soon as the lights came on. In its place, on the floor was a small crystalline ball. It seemed to have a glow of a kanji symbol. He immediately picked it up off the ground and hid it in his uniform.

"Sage, I must apologize, I had not known," his grandfather spoke.

Sage would have given his grandfather a harsher cold shoulder but he was simply struck in awe at the situation that occurred. Was it a dream? Was it a hallucination of fear? Was this ball any indication? he asked himself. He decided to keep the incident to himself. "I forgive you, Grandfather; I should have kept my rage in check as you had taught me."

Sage just walked up the steps and immediately to his room to try to figure out this odd crystal. His grandfather gave him a look of amazement as he thought Sage would be a bit more reluctant towards him. He decided not to pry.

"And pretty much after that, it's history," Sage finished.

Mina had long since finished tying the bandages and was now almost sitting on Sage's lap. Her hands were still on the strands, however, as he finished off his flashback. "Your grandfather seemed like a very harsh person," she stated with sympathy.

Sage smirked a little, not so much to her comment but as he was confident that she was becoming very taken with him. "Yeah, he was pretty strict, but I did learn a lot from him," he said.

"But still, there must be a better way of doing it than being so... forceful... right?" Mina said was deep gazing eyes. She was leaning towards Sage a bit more. He looked back with his one eye in an equally entranced manner.

"I don't know, taking things by force is sometimes necessary," he said in an almost-whisper.

"But what if something is in the way?" she asked in reply, leaning in closer.

"Then you move it out of the way... you have to go after what you want," Sage replied, also leaning closer.

The two tilted their heads sideways and closed their eyes. The shared a small kiss as if testing the waters but as soon as they felt the magnetism. With Mina's hands on the bottom sides of Sage's face pulling him towards her and his hands just above her waist, slowly and passionately they embraced and kissed. There was nothing between them. For that moment, there was nothing, just them. No ghosts of the past, no demons of today... no Ryo of Wildfire.