Beginning of the End
Hey, I updated faster this time, didn't I? I'm hoping that by updating sooner, I'll be able to keep your anger at bay. However, I do BEG you to please leave SOME reviews. They so help me when I need to know what else to write.
Jess, I must thank you again for your unending supply of comments and ideas with this story. You are my one true inspiration to continue "Beginning of the End" at all, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Now, the story...
"What are you doing in my house?"
The question, no doubt, left the five Ronin Warriors stunned. They looked the fifteen, maybe fourteen-year-old girl over. Being sure they didn't recognize her, they then puzzled over her question.
"What do you mean, your house?" Cye asked, his British accent softening the question.
"Yes, MY house. Just like it has been for the last year." The girl claimed, her snappy attitude wearing on their nerves a little. "How the hell did you get past my security anyways?"
"No, why…how are you claiming that the house WE lived in for the past six years has belonged to you for the last year?! We've never even SEEN you before!" Ryo asked, his anger getting the better of him as it escalated his voice.
"I've never seen YOU before and yes, I've lived here for the past year. Ask any of my neighbors; they'll back me up more likely than five strange young men so I suggest you leave!" Keira yelled, stomping a foot to emphasize her point.
Ryo got ready to retaliate with another comeback, but Cye calmed him down by placing a hand over his leader's mouth and restraining the raven-haired man's hands with his other hand.
"Excuse me, ma'am, we meant no offense." Cye said softly, his British accent and charm weaving through his words. He smiled at her charmingly, but she merely gave a snort of disgust.
"All right…fine." Keira said softly, throwing her hands up in resignation since none of the five men had made any move to leave. She settled herself by the door, fixing each with a glare. "Let's start from the beginning. How the hell did you get into my house in the first place?"
Although everyone noted the way Keira still referred to the house as hers, feelings were kept at bay. Rowen was the one to voice the answer to the girl's question
"We woke up in here."
"You woke up…in my house?" Keira asked incredulously, trying to clarify what the blue-haired man had just revealed. "You weren't here when I left for work at midnight…" She paused, letting them see the gap in the story.
"I'd say we woke up around two in the morning." Sage was the first to speak up after an awkward silence. "I mean, I woke up probably around two in the morning…I was in the room I normally share with Rowen when we visit Mia's home. I came into this bedroom searching for my friends…I guess this is where we fell asleep after we discussed a dream we all had."
Rowen nodded in agreement as did Cye and Kento before looking to Keira, who stared at each of them. She looked…confused and…apprehensive. Her right hand slid along her throat, grasping at something the five men could not see. She rolled the object between her thumb and forefinger until her nerves quieted and she was able to assess the situation calmly once again.
"Who…who did you say owned this house while you lived here?" Keira asked, clearing her throat when her voice caught with emotion at first.
The five men all showed different signs of unease at the question. Cye fidgeted, digging his hands into his pockets while Kento rubbed the back of his neck, face to the floor. Rowen stretched back, placing his head against the wall and looking up at the ceiling while Sage sat toward the front of the bed, his gray eyes analyzing Keira from where he sat.
Ryo looked to all his friends before speaking up, his nerves on fire. "Mia Koji. This house belongs to Mia Koji and we were her guests, to stay when we needed to and when it didn't bother Mia's studies." He bounced on the balls of his ankles, anxious for Keira's response to his answer.
Keira was silent for a few minutes, her right hand still sliding across the object at her neck occasionally. Finally, "Are you talking about the noted archaeology, mythology and history instructor from Tokyo University? THE Mia Koji who donated over half of her fortune to building up the research lab at the University?"
The five men were silent. They were stunned by Keira's answer, to say the least. Mia HAD applied for an opening position as a student's assistant in the archaeology department at Tokyo University…but the Mia that Keira had described surpassed even Mia's dreams that she had for the future.
Kento answered this round. "No, we're talking about the Mia Koji who inherited this house and her fortune from her grandfather after he died. We're talking about the Mia Koji who expanded her fortune by writing a novel about five mystical armors and the boys that wielded them as they fought off an evil demon emperor. We're talking about Mia, who planned to take a job as a student assistant in Tokyo University this Fall Semester."
Kento paused, counting through Mia's other feats, leaving out ones that would reveal who they were, but making sure he made it clear which Mia Koji he meant. He couldn't believe there was another Mia that had done so many wondrous things; things that Mia had planned for her future, but had yet to attain.
When Kento finally looked up from his contemplation, he saw Keira just outside the room. She was walking back in, a photo album and four novels in hand. She laid down the first novel, "Kanji Go", The Five Kanji. The cover was decorated with the five symbols wrought in each of the five armors, with the symbol for Inferno in the middle. Their colors blended together perfectly, making a wonderful myriad for the eye.
All five men nodded in recognition, knowing the book well. Each of them had poured part of his soul into creating that single novel and each had reveled in the fact that it had become an instant hit throughout the world.
Keira laid down the second novel she held. It was titled, "Ashi Kumori", Evil Shadows. The five men crowded closer, having never seen this novel in its finished form before. They had seen the final copy, but had never seen it published. When had Mia done this?
The cover was mostly black, with blood-red eyes at the top, staring out as if to swallow the reader into the story. In the middle of the cover, barely discernable, was five pinpricks of light, the Japanese symbol for each of their armors etched in fine marksmanship on each orb.
Keira laid down the third novel she held, which was titled, "Chikara Faita", Powerful Fighter. The novel was adorned by the new Inferno Armor, gifted to them just before their twentieth birthday by a lady that had strange ideas, a strange attitude…and a strange sense of what the future held for the Ronin Warriors.
"I never knew Mia had started a third novel." Rowen said softly, running a finger over the last word. The four other men nodded in agreement while Keira chewed her lip in thought.
After a moment's hesitation, she laid down the last novel that she held…"Yakume, Meiyo…Takai".
"Duty, Honor and Death." Keira read the title aloud, bringing finality to the words written. If she hadn't said them, the five young men probably would have never believed what lay before them as blatant truth.
Keira didn't wait for them to get over their shock. Instead, she pushed the photo album forward, flipping it open to the first page. On the first page rested a photograph Mia had once shown the five of them. It was when she was younger and her grandfather held her in his arms.
"Is this the Mia Koji that you speak so highly?" Keira said, forcing herself to her feet so that she could detach herself from the album. It held many memories…more so for Mia than they did for her, but those memories still existed.
Slowly, the five men nodded in agreement. The young girl in the photograph before them was their Mia.
"Why do you show us these things?" Sage asked, never removing his eyes from Mia's laughing face. He wanted that happiness and joy to be remembered forever. He thought back to the dream he had…the dream where he was the last to die…"What are you going to tell us?"
Keira folded her arms and bit her lip. She worried it until it almost broke and bled under the pressure before supplying an answer.
"The Mia Koji you know…The Mia Koji that I knew for the last thirteen years of my life…she died last year in her sleep at ninety-three years of age. The University honored her memory by adding another research wing to the archaeology department. Her name is well known to any student at the University. They also know about her supposed granddaughter who inherited her house and fortune when she died." Keira paused after stating this before continuing. "I am that supposed granddaughter, but I have no blood relation to Miss Koji. I was abandoned on her front stoop when she was eighty-years old."
She watched the five young men as they continued to stare at the picture of little Mia, laughing and holding her grandfather's hand…she was forever frozen in time that way and with a pain in her heart, Keira realized she still missed the motherly-figure.
Keira looked up from her own contemplations when she heard the sound of a page turning. Ryo had flipped the first page of the album over, opening to a page that held six different pictures. Each showed Mia a little older from before and helping her father in his lab at some different task. Keira smiled, remembering when she used to look at this album, snuggled in Mia's tight embrace.
She knew the next few pictures by heart: Mia blowing out eighteen candles on her birthday cake; Mia out in the family cemetery, crying silently by her parent's gravestones; Mia fishing with her grandfather; Mia caught with a rice ball half in her mouth as she completed research on the computer…
Keira had seen the other photos afterwards, but had never told Mia. Mia had always grown sad over those pictures and preferred to not dwell on them. The first photo showed Mia kneeling by her grandfather's grave, a strange boy with raven hair by her side. Another photo showed Mia at a birthday party with the raven-haired boy when he was older. Beside the two in the picture was a boy with auburn hair, a boy with blue hair and startling blue eyes and another, heavier boy with ash-blue hair and an orange bandana. A ten-year-old boy lounged in front with a Siberian tiger.
Another photo was taken in New York City with Mia and the five boys from before, but now a blond with gray eyes that was the same age as four of the other boys with him. He was unhealthily thin, but a smile graced his lips as if to say, 'don't worry about me, I'll be fine.'
The last photo that Keira remembered showed Mia and only Mia. Tears streamed down her face as she turned her face heavenwards to ask why. Before her were five new graves, each etched with a name Keira had memorized.
'Sanada, Ryo…Hashiba, Touma…Rei Faun, Shuu…Date, Seiji…Mouri, Shin…' The names ran through her mind's eye as she remembered the picture. Instinctively, her hand flew to the necklace that dangled around her throat.
It was a beautiful thing, a small, yellow orb that hung from a delicate necklace. It was the one thing that Mia had left her outside of the house and the fortune. It had been found by Mia when she was over sixty years old and given to Keira as a birthday present when she had become twelve. Mia had claimed that the little treasure had "suited" her and she should always keep it with her.
Pulling herself from her thoughts, she saw the five young men staring in disbelief at the last picture. They had recognized the five names on the gravestones. With a sudden wave of stupidity, Keira knew why the five men looked familiar. They were the five boys from the picture…they were the five boys with their names listed on the gravestones…they were the five boys that Mia had missed so terribly and tried to preserve them by never going near the rooms they had stayed in.
The album was slammed shut, with the raven-haired man leaning all his weight on it. Tears brimmed in his cerulean eyes and the hand he had resting over the photo album tightened into a fist before slamming it against the cover.
"This can't be real!" The man shouted as he squeezed his eyes shut against his tears. They dripped past his guard and spattered gently onto the photo album. The other four young men averted their eyes, looking anywhere but at the truth that glared at them from the closed book of memories.
"It's real. If I'm correct…all five of you have been dea…missing for the last sixty years. If you want…there's more proof out back." The five men looked up at her, unsure what she was talking about. She turned and left the room, not having the heart to look at her "grandmother's" ghosts.
When she heard them slowly get up and follow her, their bare feet padding down the stairs after her, she went to the door. She pulled on a new spring jacket, slipped into the only pair of slippers that waited at the door, and headed outside.
When she got outside, she turned to the right of the house. She followed a path that was well worn to the place that Mia had visited constantly when she missed those from her past. In the last year, Keira had gone to the place often. She cleaned off the nine graves that often were over-grown with weeds and had wild animals feeding off the flowers that she planted in memory. She watered the plants and sometimes, when life seemed to get really ugly, she would talk to the nine there. She knew it was foolish and would only reward her with a strange reputation and bitter memories, but at least she could be comforted for the time.
Keira stepped up to the newest of the nine graves, wiping some stray leaves from the nameplate as she smiled. "Hey, Grandma. It's me. I've just been missing you recently, so I thought I'd stop by…say hi…"
Keira trailed off, running a hand over the carved name as she watched the five boys enter the graveyard with reverence. This was not the first time that they had been here…
But could she honestly believe that they were the five young men Mia had loved so dearly when she was younger?
Well…does Keira believe them? Any interesting ideas out there? Sorry to say it, but I'm running on empty. However, hope you enjoyed the story! Thanks for reading!