Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has anything even remotely to do
with the Ronin Warriors, although I wish I did. Anything that is original,
like the girls, are mine. Blah.
Note: -* words* - means shared thoughts between the girls.
Chapter 3 By: Soulful Gray
Katrin nervously drummed her fingers against her knees as the scrutinizing gazes of the Ronins passed over her, Robyn, and Lin. Being surrounded by so many guys was unnerving and a lot more than what she was used to.
She wondered if they were planning on lynching them by the looks of their faces, but none of the people- she couldn't tell you their names if she tried- made a move to do any such thing. Regardless of their lack of action, Katrin was unable to relax as well as Robyn.
Of course Robyn found this all as a dream come true, but Katrin found this a nightmare brought to life. Ever since she had seen the first episode of Ronin Warriors, at Robyn's urging, she had disliked it immensely. White Blaze aside, she hated everything about the show.
The only problem she had with liking White Blaze was the possibility that she may come to like the rest of the people present. That was something she didn't want to happen; after all her complaints, she didn't want Robyn to be proven right, that she could change her mind. After all Katrin's protests about the show, the blond would just love having something to gloat about.
However, Katrin didn't like being at odds with her older sister. It just didn't feel right to have the rift between them. And she didn't want Robyn to stop liking something she truly loved just because her friends asked her to; it wasn't right to ask that of a friend in most circumstances. She wondered if she should just grin and bear it; after all, that's really all Robyn had asked her to do. Robyn didn't expect her to like it. She had only asked that Katrin and Lin accept her liking the Ronins. Was that so unreasonable?
A poke in her side sent her flying out of her seat.
"Jiminy pot-stickers!" she screamed as she landed on the ground after rolling over the couch arm. She sat up and reddened, as the whole room seemed to be focused on her. She clutched her silk bag tight to her chest, tempted to use it, and as she looked up at Robyn, who was leaning over the couch arm and staring at her with her twinkling gray eyes, it was decided.
"Sorry," Robyn said, not really meaning it either. "But you just looked so serious, I had to put an end to it!"
Reaching into her bag, she envisioned something that was good for hitting things. Randomly she grabbed at the wire handle of something and extracted...
...a flyswatter.
Not what she'd really had in mind, but it would do and she threw up her arm quickly and smacked her offender across the face with the bright yellow swatter.
Katrin knew it hadn't really hurt her, because the moment the plastic lifted from her face, Robyn burst out giggling and sat back to have a little chuckle fest.
"Ya keep a flyswatta' in ya purse?" The Ronin nearest to her, the guy with the blue hair, as he eyed her with one eyebrow raised.
"Yes, for annoying pests like her!" she said sharply, glaring at the blonde who seemed to find everything in life amusing. "And it's not a purse!" She remained on the floor to huff as her sister continued to giggle.
"Looks like a purse ta me," the blue one said, folding his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair.
"Well it's not."
"It's a bag, your a chick, and chicks carry bags called purses," he continued as if she hadn't said a word. His accent was really starting to bug her.
"Do you want me to show you what else I carry in here?" she threatened, her eyes darkening as she reached in it.
"Na. I don't need to see inside ya purse ta know that it's full of chick stuff."
"Would you stop calling me a chick! And it's not a purse! It's called a tote!" She closed her fingers around a rock. "And I'll have you know it's not full of chick stuff." Katrin changed her mind and turned the rock into a rubber ball. She pulled her arm back with the ball and threw it, hard. It smacked him right between the eyes and his jaw dropped in surprise. Meanwhile, Robyn's giggles had quieted to soft snickers as she watched the goings on.
The blue haired dude stood up and glared down at her, Katrin glared up at him, and all was merry.
"Why don't we just get things over with now and send these -chicks- back to the Dynasty!" he growled as he shot invisible arrows at Katrin's head.
"What the hell is the Dynasty!" she shot back. "And stop calling me a chick you overgrown blueberry-filled Twinkie!"
"Shut up! Both of you!" the black-haired guy yelled, and both Katrin and her adversary shushed. "Rowen, cool it. We already concluded they weren't from the Dynasty!" Ryo's tiger-eyes turned on Katrin. "And you're not helping matters, so just do us a favor and keep quiet."
Katrin pursed her lips in her anger and reached into the bag again, but Robyn reached over the chair arm and grabbed her wrist. Looking up, Katrin caught the warning in her older sister's eyes and removed the hand that had been ready to pull out another projectile from her silk "tote."
At least she now knew Twinkie boy's real name. The only other guy whose name she was sure about was the blonde, Sage, and she knew that because Robyn had given him the sword after raving about it looking like Sage's sword. Miffed, she decided not to bother prying herself from the floor and scooted so she was sitting in front of it; this also gave her a clear shot if she wanted to smash Robyn's foot with something from her bag.
Robyn's warning had been loud and clear. It said, "We are not to give ourselves away and if they find out about our power, they may label us as an enemy." The two objects she had conjured from her bag were innocent enough, but if she continued to pull out random things that technically shouldn't fit in there, the guys would get suspicious.
She looked around at the group, wondering what their names were; she figured if she was going to be there for any length of time, she may as well know their names so she could yell at them properly. There were eight guys, two young women, and a little boy. The girls and the little boy she would have no problem remembering, but the guys were another thing. They were all very different, but the sheer number of names was what daunted her.
"So..." Robyn said from above her. "Would you like to drill us now, later, or never?" Picking at her finger nails, Katrin prayed for never.
It seemed as though they were going to answer her prayer, since none of them looked like they were bursting with questions, but then Sage opened his mouth and shot it all to hell.
"Why were the three of you sent here, aside from the obvious. But why you?"
Robyn was popping her knuckles as she pondered a bit over the question. "T'tell ya the truth, I don't rightly know. I dunno, fate perhaps?"
There was nothing "perhaps" about it, Katrin thought, especially where Robyn's thoughts were concerned. Katrin's older sister was set in her beliefs that there were no accidents in life.
"I hadn't even known it would be this world we were entering," she said as she leaned back into the cushions of the couch.
"Then how is it you knew to give it to Halo?" the lady with the weird staff asked.
"Well, when I first saw the sword, I thought it looked like his sword, but I didn't know until we got here and saw you guys that it actually was his, without a doubt."
Katrin wrapped her fingers around a small pendant that had previously been hidden under her shirt. Robyn and Lin both had one just like it, and rubbing it between her fingers gave her a sense of comfort.
"Do any of you know of a warrior who calls himself Kaiden?" the lady asked.
Katrin glanced up at Robyn to see if she knew, and Robyn looked to Lin to see if she knew, and since none of them knew, they all answered together.
"No."
"He is the one who banished Sage's sword to your world," the other young woman said. She was perched on the arm of a chair next to the hot-tempered black haired dude and scratching White Blaze behind the ear.
"At the moment, our main goal is to find out why," Staff-Lady said.
Katrin felt something niggling at the back of her mind, and knew that Robyn was thinking and thinking hard. She had a wall up, but the older girl could still portray some of the feelings that went with her thoughts through said wall.
She wondered if Robyn had some sort of clue as to what was happening to the people before them and wasn't telling.
"And you think that we have something to do with why he sent whaz-his- face's sword to our world?" Lin asked, and it was then that Katrin realized how quiet her other sister was being.
"Quite frankly, yes." Staff-Lady was seated on the loveseat next to the smooth-voice white haired guy who had a patch over one eye. "There has to be a reason that he would send the sword there and three seemingly powerless girls would be brought back with it."
Powerless. Hell no! Katrin grumbled inwardly.
"The thing I want to know," Lin started, "is how the hell a cartoon turned up real. It's scary as hell."
"Well, if you think about it, Lin, it's not all that impossible," Robyn stated. "Considering the sword was sent to Japan centuries before our time, and the sword spoke to the men of that family. Think about it. Japanese. What do we like that's Japanese?"
"Anime."
"Bingo!" Robyn's point made itself known to Katrin.
"So maybe the people in that family were the same people that created the TV show," Katrin said, it all dawning on her, making more sense.
"And the fact that it got down to every last nitty-gritty detail is the cool part," Robyn continued. "Everything here is the series reincarnated." She shot a look to Sage. "I don't mean to sound like I support evilness or anything, but hellfire if that Kaiden dude hadn't sent Sage's sword to our world, we wouldn't have had the viewing pleasure of the ever-so-kick-ass series of the Ronin Warriors! And that's just not right! It's practically sacrilege!"
Robyn obviously had no qualms about making clear the fact that she had a case of hero-worship for the group of people before us, and Katrin rolled her eyes.
"And you have to admit, Sage. Your sword's very thorough. It paid a lot of attention to details!"
"If only it hadn't," Lin grumbled, and Katrin smiled a bit at this.
"Quite rainin' on my parade! Let me worship!" Wailing, Robyn drug Lin's head over to her lap and proceeded to nuggie her to death.
"This is insane," one guy said and Katrin's ears perked up a little at this. His voice was nice, with a soft British- or was it Australian?- accent. He had light brown hair and nice blue eyes.
"Tell me about it. You don't live with this." Lin and Robyn had each other in a choke hold and both were turning blue. Immediately she wished she hadn't said anything, because the guy turned his eyes on her and smiled. She ducked her head a bit in her own timid fashion. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to get to know the guys in any way, but the fact that they were guys made it a bit weird. She was uncomfortable around the opposite sex, due to her minimal association with it. She'd gone to an all-girl school (AN: I'm not saying that girls going to all-girl schools don't know how to act around guys. Just Katrin.) and she didn't have the slightest idea how she was supposed to act around them. She could argue with them, but getting along with them was something she had little experience with.
"Well," the normal lady began, "Since it seems that we won't be getting anywhere with this, we might as well start dinner. And since it's obvious you girls have nowhere else to go, you might as well stay here. Not like I don't have the room." Katrin liked her. She was a nice lady, if a little bit fashion-challenged. "Whose turn is it to cook?"
Robyn and Lin had stopped wrestling and were sitting farther apart from each other now, and they and Katrin watched as all eyes turned towards Rowen.
"Looks like it's Pizza night," Sage concluded.
"No, actually I was thinking of trying out a new recipe I found in-"
"NO!" they shouted, and the three girls jumped. Robyn giggled.
"I'll cook," the Brit offered. "We have guests and it would only be polite to offer something more than pizza."
An audible sigh of relief went through the room like a wave. Katrin figured that Rowen was a disaster in the kitchen by the way the people had acted to him saying he wanted to cook. She also figured the Brit had to be a good cook.
"Thanks Cye," the nice lady said. Cye. That was a nice name, Katrin thought.
Cye and the nice lady left the room and everybody else just kind of stayed where they were, shifting under the uncomfortable silence.
Katrin figured this was as good a time as any to find out their names, so she spoke up quietly.
"So.. uh.. what are your names?" she asked as she fiddled with a shoelace. She didn't like uncomfortable silences.
"Surprised you don't know," the big guy with the bluish-black hair said.
"Well I don't. I'm not obsessed with you guys like Robyn is."
"Neither am I," Lin said. "Since we're here, we might as well know."
"Well I'm Kentoe," the big guy provided. After he said this a loud rumble could be heard, and at first Katrin thought it was White Blaze, but Kentoe grinned. "I'm also hungry."
"Constantly," said the little boy. This was the first he had said anything. He was sitting on Kentoe's knee and waved at the girls. "I'm Yulie." He had dark brown hair and had a bit of an annoying voice, but he was a cute kid nonetheless.
It moved on from them in a circle going first to the couch where Sage was sitting. He just said his name.
"My name is Cale," said the guy with a scar under his eye. He was a very dark looking person. The guy next to him gave Katrin the chills.
"I'm Sekhmet." His voice made it worse. He sounded like a snake; heck, his whole person reminded her of a snake, a creature she was terrified of.
"I am Dais," said the dude with the patch on his eye, leaning back with one arm on the back of the loveseat.
Staff-Lady was next. Her name was Kayura.
They skipped over Cye's vacant spot and Rowen just kind of muttered his name.
"I'm Ryo," said the black-haired dude, as his turn circled around, finally. "And the girl that walked into the kitchen with Cye was Mia." Mia. That was a faintly normal name. Katrin could live with that. She still figured she would have trouble with their names for a little while; it was a lot to remember.
Again with the heavy silences. Katrin drummed her fingers against her knees as the silence hummed on, and she swore she heard elevator music coming from somewhere. Scratch that. It was the Jeopardy tune she was hearing.
"Sooooooo...." Robyn drawled out. "Should we draw a topic out of a hat or continue on with silence?" When nobody answered, Robyn settled back on the couch again and propped her hands behind her head. It seemed the blonde had calmed a bit and was content just to be near her heroes. Either that or she was about to...
Yep. She was "zoning." Katrin say that her friend's eyes were glazed over just a bit as she stared off out into space.
Feeling that she should take advantage of her opportunity, she leaned forward and signaled to Lin, who agreed whole-heartedly. They both reached for one of the throw pillows on the couch.
If the Ronins knew what the two girls were about to do- which they probably did- they weren't about to stop them as Katrin stood and the two swung the pillows with all their might at Robyn's face.
A squeal tore from her lips and she dove from the couch. She tucked and rolled to the other side of the room before coming up on her feet in a crouch.
"Ye shall not strike oil! My wells are dry! I didn't do it! Do not drillllll..... Oh..." For the first time that day, Robyn seemed embarrassed, as her cheeks were reddening. Lin and Katrin grinned triumphantly.
"Yulie, close your ears. Now, please." After the boy had covered his ears with his hands, although he grumbled about it, Robyn took a deep breath.
"ASS-GOBLINS! You butt munching, hicker-billy sons o' Dick-Scum Toe-Daddy Bleepity-bleepin' BLEEPS! " she yelled. She looked around and saw that everybody was either trying to cover a laugh or chuckling in a strained manner. "Glad to be of entertainment," she grumbled as she plopped down on the floor in a pout.
Lin and Katrin sat down on the couch and tossed the pillows back into their corners.
"Jeeze, Birdie. You should see your face!" Katrin giggled. She couldn't help it. Poking fun at Robyn was just so much... fun!
"Don't call me that, Kitty!" Katrin's smile turned into a frown. She hated being called Kitty!
Lin was snickering at both of them, the sound reminding one of a slinky rodent, and Robyn turned on her next. "Shush, Weasel!"
That stopped Lin in her verbal tracks and she stopped laughing. "Ooooh... You'll pay, Pigeon!"
Something that sounded faintly like a squawk sounded from Robyn's lips, and it was so indignant in its tone, nobody could control their laughter a wave sounded through the room as the three continued to pick their little fight. Kentoe was guffawing loudly in his chair, accidentally knocking Yulie off his knee. Kayura was only smiling, while Dais was trying to control his laughter through his hand. Sage was like Kayura, only smiling, but something akin to a twinkle lit up his eye, while the rest of them had no qualms about laughing at the three girls.
Katrin really wanted to reach into her bag and drag out a heavy bashing object, but she hadn't realized how much time had passed, because Mia suddenly came into the room to announce dinner. She glanced around at the mirthful people before rolling her eyes and making the announcement.
"Dinner's re-" the words weren't even completely out of her mouth before Kentoe had barreled past her. A shout was heard, followed by some scuffling before Kentoe was tossed back into the room on his ass. Cye stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, with a spatula sticking out of his hand. It was an amusing pose, and Katrin snickered a bit.
"Awww, but Cye!" Kentoe whined, and the Brit just glared.
"Kentoe, not until everybody is seated! I've told you a hundred times before!"
"I can't help it!" the muscular warrior moaned. "I'm just so hungry!"
"You're always hungry!" everybody but Katrin and Lin shouted at him, and after those words were spoken- or rather, yelled- they rose and began moving towards the dining room.
Not sure what to do, Katrin, Robyn and Lin just stayed where they were. Katrin was sure Robyn was dying to follow them, but she knew her sense of loyalty was keeping her at her sisters' sides.
Cye looked over from his perch at the door and smiled at them. "Come on then. Nobody's going to bite ye'." Katrin shifted a bit and waited for Robyn or Lin to make a move.
Surprisingly, it was Lin who moved first, standing from the couch and taking the nervous first step. Robyn removed herself from her spot on the floor and skipped after her. Slowly, Katrin stood and walked to the door to the dining room. She had to move past Cye, and when she did, she happened to glance up.
He flashed her a sunny smile and she looked down abruptly. She jumped a little when he put a hand on the small of her back and guided her into the room, and innocent and gentlemanly gesture, really. But it was a gesture Katrin was not used to and she scooted forward to avoid the contact. If he noticed, Cye didn't comment, because he moved past her to take his seat. There were steaming platters of food on the table, simple dishes, and they smelled heavenly. Katrin's stomach grumbled as she timidly took a seat between Robyn and Kentoe. Kentoe looked like he was about to eat his own leg off if he didn't get any food, and she had to admit that she could do the same.
She hadn't had anything to eat since a really early breakfast that morning before she and Lin left to go meet Robyn at Sutter Creek. They had planned to shop and eat there, but for some reason food had slipped their minds. Her stomach growled again, and Kentoe looked down at her.
"Hungry?" he asked with a huge grin.
"Yeah, a little," she muttered, not meeting his gaze. A little after that was said, everybody dug in, not sure of what to do, Katrin sat there somewhat numbly and stared. Then something, rice, was sloshed down on her plate by way of Kentoe's hand, holding the serving spoon.
"Don't be shy around here!" he said as he began piling stuff onto her plate, more than what tiny her could eat. She squeaked and her eyes widened. Even Robyn and Lin were digging in, if somewhat slowly, and all she could do was stare.
"You're pretty skinny. You could-" Kentoe didn't finish his sentence as Katrin instinctively threw out her arm, clutching her silk bag, and whapped him in the back of the head.
"Don't call me 'skinny'!" she yelled. All motion stopped, and realizing what she had done, she immediately colored and looked down. "Sorry."
"Aw, it's no problem really. Didn't know you were touchy; my bad." She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see him smiling in a friendly manner and she looked down again. In the living room, things hadn't been so bad, but in the dining room, she'd gone back to square one of her Shy- Board. It made it worse when her stomach growled again, this time sounding like thunder muffled by cotton.
"Hee-hee!" Robyn grinned. "Kitty, you're purring!"
Slowly, Katrin looked up at her older sister, her brown eyes turning black as a tight look encompassed her face. Robyn, knowing what she did wrong, humbled her features in a not-so-humble way and presented her head.
*WHAP!* Katrin smacked Robyn, hard.
And thus went their dinner.
-*Lin, are you okay?*- Robyn asked, finally throwing down her wall. She figured it was safe, since her friends didn't seem to be in as pissy moods as before. She was worried about Lin. Her prank earlier had been refreshing, but now she was sunk back into silent mode. Robyn felt Katrin was slowly growing used to things, but Lin was crawling at a snail's pace, aside from eating.
-*I'm fine,*- the redhead said as she chewed slowly on a small piece of chicken.
-*No you're not. Please talk.*-
-*I'm just not comfortable here,*- Lin replied.
-*I know, but that's never stopped you from opening up before. Come on. Please?*-
-*No! Okay! I said no!*- Stubbornly, Lin clenched her jaw. -*Maybe later, but not now. Okay?*-
Sighing mentally, Robyn conceded. -*Okay. But don't take too long.*-
-*Whatever.*-
*So what did you think? I decided to make this a Katrin chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it as a refreshing sort of change. Or something like that.
Slowly I'm developing ideas for future chapters, but I don't want to develop them much too quickly, or I'll run dry, and nobody wants that to happen. I'm hoping that I can keep writing this for a really long time. I love many-chaptered stories, but then those are kind of annoying because they can drag on and on and on and on and on just like I'm dragging on and on and on and on and on, but hey, oh well.
Questions? Comments? Review down below please! Pretty please? I'll give you a hug!
-Gray
Note: -* words* - means shared thoughts between the girls.
Chapter 3 By: Soulful Gray
Katrin nervously drummed her fingers against her knees as the scrutinizing gazes of the Ronins passed over her, Robyn, and Lin. Being surrounded by so many guys was unnerving and a lot more than what she was used to.
She wondered if they were planning on lynching them by the looks of their faces, but none of the people- she couldn't tell you their names if she tried- made a move to do any such thing. Regardless of their lack of action, Katrin was unable to relax as well as Robyn.
Of course Robyn found this all as a dream come true, but Katrin found this a nightmare brought to life. Ever since she had seen the first episode of Ronin Warriors, at Robyn's urging, she had disliked it immensely. White Blaze aside, she hated everything about the show.
The only problem she had with liking White Blaze was the possibility that she may come to like the rest of the people present. That was something she didn't want to happen; after all her complaints, she didn't want Robyn to be proven right, that she could change her mind. After all Katrin's protests about the show, the blond would just love having something to gloat about.
However, Katrin didn't like being at odds with her older sister. It just didn't feel right to have the rift between them. And she didn't want Robyn to stop liking something she truly loved just because her friends asked her to; it wasn't right to ask that of a friend in most circumstances. She wondered if she should just grin and bear it; after all, that's really all Robyn had asked her to do. Robyn didn't expect her to like it. She had only asked that Katrin and Lin accept her liking the Ronins. Was that so unreasonable?
A poke in her side sent her flying out of her seat.
"Jiminy pot-stickers!" she screamed as she landed on the ground after rolling over the couch arm. She sat up and reddened, as the whole room seemed to be focused on her. She clutched her silk bag tight to her chest, tempted to use it, and as she looked up at Robyn, who was leaning over the couch arm and staring at her with her twinkling gray eyes, it was decided.
"Sorry," Robyn said, not really meaning it either. "But you just looked so serious, I had to put an end to it!"
Reaching into her bag, she envisioned something that was good for hitting things. Randomly she grabbed at the wire handle of something and extracted...
...a flyswatter.
Not what she'd really had in mind, but it would do and she threw up her arm quickly and smacked her offender across the face with the bright yellow swatter.
Katrin knew it hadn't really hurt her, because the moment the plastic lifted from her face, Robyn burst out giggling and sat back to have a little chuckle fest.
"Ya keep a flyswatta' in ya purse?" The Ronin nearest to her, the guy with the blue hair, as he eyed her with one eyebrow raised.
"Yes, for annoying pests like her!" she said sharply, glaring at the blonde who seemed to find everything in life amusing. "And it's not a purse!" She remained on the floor to huff as her sister continued to giggle.
"Looks like a purse ta me," the blue one said, folding his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair.
"Well it's not."
"It's a bag, your a chick, and chicks carry bags called purses," he continued as if she hadn't said a word. His accent was really starting to bug her.
"Do you want me to show you what else I carry in here?" she threatened, her eyes darkening as she reached in it.
"Na. I don't need to see inside ya purse ta know that it's full of chick stuff."
"Would you stop calling me a chick! And it's not a purse! It's called a tote!" She closed her fingers around a rock. "And I'll have you know it's not full of chick stuff." Katrin changed her mind and turned the rock into a rubber ball. She pulled her arm back with the ball and threw it, hard. It smacked him right between the eyes and his jaw dropped in surprise. Meanwhile, Robyn's giggles had quieted to soft snickers as she watched the goings on.
The blue haired dude stood up and glared down at her, Katrin glared up at him, and all was merry.
"Why don't we just get things over with now and send these -chicks- back to the Dynasty!" he growled as he shot invisible arrows at Katrin's head.
"What the hell is the Dynasty!" she shot back. "And stop calling me a chick you overgrown blueberry-filled Twinkie!"
"Shut up! Both of you!" the black-haired guy yelled, and both Katrin and her adversary shushed. "Rowen, cool it. We already concluded they weren't from the Dynasty!" Ryo's tiger-eyes turned on Katrin. "And you're not helping matters, so just do us a favor and keep quiet."
Katrin pursed her lips in her anger and reached into the bag again, but Robyn reached over the chair arm and grabbed her wrist. Looking up, Katrin caught the warning in her older sister's eyes and removed the hand that had been ready to pull out another projectile from her silk "tote."
At least she now knew Twinkie boy's real name. The only other guy whose name she was sure about was the blonde, Sage, and she knew that because Robyn had given him the sword after raving about it looking like Sage's sword. Miffed, she decided not to bother prying herself from the floor and scooted so she was sitting in front of it; this also gave her a clear shot if she wanted to smash Robyn's foot with something from her bag.
Robyn's warning had been loud and clear. It said, "We are not to give ourselves away and if they find out about our power, they may label us as an enemy." The two objects she had conjured from her bag were innocent enough, but if she continued to pull out random things that technically shouldn't fit in there, the guys would get suspicious.
She looked around at the group, wondering what their names were; she figured if she was going to be there for any length of time, she may as well know their names so she could yell at them properly. There were eight guys, two young women, and a little boy. The girls and the little boy she would have no problem remembering, but the guys were another thing. They were all very different, but the sheer number of names was what daunted her.
"So..." Robyn said from above her. "Would you like to drill us now, later, or never?" Picking at her finger nails, Katrin prayed for never.
It seemed as though they were going to answer her prayer, since none of them looked like they were bursting with questions, but then Sage opened his mouth and shot it all to hell.
"Why were the three of you sent here, aside from the obvious. But why you?"
Robyn was popping her knuckles as she pondered a bit over the question. "T'tell ya the truth, I don't rightly know. I dunno, fate perhaps?"
There was nothing "perhaps" about it, Katrin thought, especially where Robyn's thoughts were concerned. Katrin's older sister was set in her beliefs that there were no accidents in life.
"I hadn't even known it would be this world we were entering," she said as she leaned back into the cushions of the couch.
"Then how is it you knew to give it to Halo?" the lady with the weird staff asked.
"Well, when I first saw the sword, I thought it looked like his sword, but I didn't know until we got here and saw you guys that it actually was his, without a doubt."
Katrin wrapped her fingers around a small pendant that had previously been hidden under her shirt. Robyn and Lin both had one just like it, and rubbing it between her fingers gave her a sense of comfort.
"Do any of you know of a warrior who calls himself Kaiden?" the lady asked.
Katrin glanced up at Robyn to see if she knew, and Robyn looked to Lin to see if she knew, and since none of them knew, they all answered together.
"No."
"He is the one who banished Sage's sword to your world," the other young woman said. She was perched on the arm of a chair next to the hot-tempered black haired dude and scratching White Blaze behind the ear.
"At the moment, our main goal is to find out why," Staff-Lady said.
Katrin felt something niggling at the back of her mind, and knew that Robyn was thinking and thinking hard. She had a wall up, but the older girl could still portray some of the feelings that went with her thoughts through said wall.
She wondered if Robyn had some sort of clue as to what was happening to the people before them and wasn't telling.
"And you think that we have something to do with why he sent whaz-his- face's sword to our world?" Lin asked, and it was then that Katrin realized how quiet her other sister was being.
"Quite frankly, yes." Staff-Lady was seated on the loveseat next to the smooth-voice white haired guy who had a patch over one eye. "There has to be a reason that he would send the sword there and three seemingly powerless girls would be brought back with it."
Powerless. Hell no! Katrin grumbled inwardly.
"The thing I want to know," Lin started, "is how the hell a cartoon turned up real. It's scary as hell."
"Well, if you think about it, Lin, it's not all that impossible," Robyn stated. "Considering the sword was sent to Japan centuries before our time, and the sword spoke to the men of that family. Think about it. Japanese. What do we like that's Japanese?"
"Anime."
"Bingo!" Robyn's point made itself known to Katrin.
"So maybe the people in that family were the same people that created the TV show," Katrin said, it all dawning on her, making more sense.
"And the fact that it got down to every last nitty-gritty detail is the cool part," Robyn continued. "Everything here is the series reincarnated." She shot a look to Sage. "I don't mean to sound like I support evilness or anything, but hellfire if that Kaiden dude hadn't sent Sage's sword to our world, we wouldn't have had the viewing pleasure of the ever-so-kick-ass series of the Ronin Warriors! And that's just not right! It's practically sacrilege!"
Robyn obviously had no qualms about making clear the fact that she had a case of hero-worship for the group of people before us, and Katrin rolled her eyes.
"And you have to admit, Sage. Your sword's very thorough. It paid a lot of attention to details!"
"If only it hadn't," Lin grumbled, and Katrin smiled a bit at this.
"Quite rainin' on my parade! Let me worship!" Wailing, Robyn drug Lin's head over to her lap and proceeded to nuggie her to death.
"This is insane," one guy said and Katrin's ears perked up a little at this. His voice was nice, with a soft British- or was it Australian?- accent. He had light brown hair and nice blue eyes.
"Tell me about it. You don't live with this." Lin and Robyn had each other in a choke hold and both were turning blue. Immediately she wished she hadn't said anything, because the guy turned his eyes on her and smiled. She ducked her head a bit in her own timid fashion. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to get to know the guys in any way, but the fact that they were guys made it a bit weird. She was uncomfortable around the opposite sex, due to her minimal association with it. She'd gone to an all-girl school (AN: I'm not saying that girls going to all-girl schools don't know how to act around guys. Just Katrin.) and she didn't have the slightest idea how she was supposed to act around them. She could argue with them, but getting along with them was something she had little experience with.
"Well," the normal lady began, "Since it seems that we won't be getting anywhere with this, we might as well start dinner. And since it's obvious you girls have nowhere else to go, you might as well stay here. Not like I don't have the room." Katrin liked her. She was a nice lady, if a little bit fashion-challenged. "Whose turn is it to cook?"
Robyn and Lin had stopped wrestling and were sitting farther apart from each other now, and they and Katrin watched as all eyes turned towards Rowen.
"Looks like it's Pizza night," Sage concluded.
"No, actually I was thinking of trying out a new recipe I found in-"
"NO!" they shouted, and the three girls jumped. Robyn giggled.
"I'll cook," the Brit offered. "We have guests and it would only be polite to offer something more than pizza."
An audible sigh of relief went through the room like a wave. Katrin figured that Rowen was a disaster in the kitchen by the way the people had acted to him saying he wanted to cook. She also figured the Brit had to be a good cook.
"Thanks Cye," the nice lady said. Cye. That was a nice name, Katrin thought.
Cye and the nice lady left the room and everybody else just kind of stayed where they were, shifting under the uncomfortable silence.
Katrin figured this was as good a time as any to find out their names, so she spoke up quietly.
"So.. uh.. what are your names?" she asked as she fiddled with a shoelace. She didn't like uncomfortable silences.
"Surprised you don't know," the big guy with the bluish-black hair said.
"Well I don't. I'm not obsessed with you guys like Robyn is."
"Neither am I," Lin said. "Since we're here, we might as well know."
"Well I'm Kentoe," the big guy provided. After he said this a loud rumble could be heard, and at first Katrin thought it was White Blaze, but Kentoe grinned. "I'm also hungry."
"Constantly," said the little boy. This was the first he had said anything. He was sitting on Kentoe's knee and waved at the girls. "I'm Yulie." He had dark brown hair and had a bit of an annoying voice, but he was a cute kid nonetheless.
It moved on from them in a circle going first to the couch where Sage was sitting. He just said his name.
"My name is Cale," said the guy with a scar under his eye. He was a very dark looking person. The guy next to him gave Katrin the chills.
"I'm Sekhmet." His voice made it worse. He sounded like a snake; heck, his whole person reminded her of a snake, a creature she was terrified of.
"I am Dais," said the dude with the patch on his eye, leaning back with one arm on the back of the loveseat.
Staff-Lady was next. Her name was Kayura.
They skipped over Cye's vacant spot and Rowen just kind of muttered his name.
"I'm Ryo," said the black-haired dude, as his turn circled around, finally. "And the girl that walked into the kitchen with Cye was Mia." Mia. That was a faintly normal name. Katrin could live with that. She still figured she would have trouble with their names for a little while; it was a lot to remember.
Again with the heavy silences. Katrin drummed her fingers against her knees as the silence hummed on, and she swore she heard elevator music coming from somewhere. Scratch that. It was the Jeopardy tune she was hearing.
"Sooooooo...." Robyn drawled out. "Should we draw a topic out of a hat or continue on with silence?" When nobody answered, Robyn settled back on the couch again and propped her hands behind her head. It seemed the blonde had calmed a bit and was content just to be near her heroes. Either that or she was about to...
Yep. She was "zoning." Katrin say that her friend's eyes were glazed over just a bit as she stared off out into space.
Feeling that she should take advantage of her opportunity, she leaned forward and signaled to Lin, who agreed whole-heartedly. They both reached for one of the throw pillows on the couch.
If the Ronins knew what the two girls were about to do- which they probably did- they weren't about to stop them as Katrin stood and the two swung the pillows with all their might at Robyn's face.
A squeal tore from her lips and she dove from the couch. She tucked and rolled to the other side of the room before coming up on her feet in a crouch.
"Ye shall not strike oil! My wells are dry! I didn't do it! Do not drillllll..... Oh..." For the first time that day, Robyn seemed embarrassed, as her cheeks were reddening. Lin and Katrin grinned triumphantly.
"Yulie, close your ears. Now, please." After the boy had covered his ears with his hands, although he grumbled about it, Robyn took a deep breath.
"ASS-GOBLINS! You butt munching, hicker-billy sons o' Dick-Scum Toe-Daddy Bleepity-bleepin' BLEEPS! " she yelled. She looked around and saw that everybody was either trying to cover a laugh or chuckling in a strained manner. "Glad to be of entertainment," she grumbled as she plopped down on the floor in a pout.
Lin and Katrin sat down on the couch and tossed the pillows back into their corners.
"Jeeze, Birdie. You should see your face!" Katrin giggled. She couldn't help it. Poking fun at Robyn was just so much... fun!
"Don't call me that, Kitty!" Katrin's smile turned into a frown. She hated being called Kitty!
Lin was snickering at both of them, the sound reminding one of a slinky rodent, and Robyn turned on her next. "Shush, Weasel!"
That stopped Lin in her verbal tracks and she stopped laughing. "Ooooh... You'll pay, Pigeon!"
Something that sounded faintly like a squawk sounded from Robyn's lips, and it was so indignant in its tone, nobody could control their laughter a wave sounded through the room as the three continued to pick their little fight. Kentoe was guffawing loudly in his chair, accidentally knocking Yulie off his knee. Kayura was only smiling, while Dais was trying to control his laughter through his hand. Sage was like Kayura, only smiling, but something akin to a twinkle lit up his eye, while the rest of them had no qualms about laughing at the three girls.
Katrin really wanted to reach into her bag and drag out a heavy bashing object, but she hadn't realized how much time had passed, because Mia suddenly came into the room to announce dinner. She glanced around at the mirthful people before rolling her eyes and making the announcement.
"Dinner's re-" the words weren't even completely out of her mouth before Kentoe had barreled past her. A shout was heard, followed by some scuffling before Kentoe was tossed back into the room on his ass. Cye stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, with a spatula sticking out of his hand. It was an amusing pose, and Katrin snickered a bit.
"Awww, but Cye!" Kentoe whined, and the Brit just glared.
"Kentoe, not until everybody is seated! I've told you a hundred times before!"
"I can't help it!" the muscular warrior moaned. "I'm just so hungry!"
"You're always hungry!" everybody but Katrin and Lin shouted at him, and after those words were spoken- or rather, yelled- they rose and began moving towards the dining room.
Not sure what to do, Katrin, Robyn and Lin just stayed where they were. Katrin was sure Robyn was dying to follow them, but she knew her sense of loyalty was keeping her at her sisters' sides.
Cye looked over from his perch at the door and smiled at them. "Come on then. Nobody's going to bite ye'." Katrin shifted a bit and waited for Robyn or Lin to make a move.
Surprisingly, it was Lin who moved first, standing from the couch and taking the nervous first step. Robyn removed herself from her spot on the floor and skipped after her. Slowly, Katrin stood and walked to the door to the dining room. She had to move past Cye, and when she did, she happened to glance up.
He flashed her a sunny smile and she looked down abruptly. She jumped a little when he put a hand on the small of her back and guided her into the room, and innocent and gentlemanly gesture, really. But it was a gesture Katrin was not used to and she scooted forward to avoid the contact. If he noticed, Cye didn't comment, because he moved past her to take his seat. There were steaming platters of food on the table, simple dishes, and they smelled heavenly. Katrin's stomach grumbled as she timidly took a seat between Robyn and Kentoe. Kentoe looked like he was about to eat his own leg off if he didn't get any food, and she had to admit that she could do the same.
She hadn't had anything to eat since a really early breakfast that morning before she and Lin left to go meet Robyn at Sutter Creek. They had planned to shop and eat there, but for some reason food had slipped their minds. Her stomach growled again, and Kentoe looked down at her.
"Hungry?" he asked with a huge grin.
"Yeah, a little," she muttered, not meeting his gaze. A little after that was said, everybody dug in, not sure of what to do, Katrin sat there somewhat numbly and stared. Then something, rice, was sloshed down on her plate by way of Kentoe's hand, holding the serving spoon.
"Don't be shy around here!" he said as he began piling stuff onto her plate, more than what tiny her could eat. She squeaked and her eyes widened. Even Robyn and Lin were digging in, if somewhat slowly, and all she could do was stare.
"You're pretty skinny. You could-" Kentoe didn't finish his sentence as Katrin instinctively threw out her arm, clutching her silk bag, and whapped him in the back of the head.
"Don't call me 'skinny'!" she yelled. All motion stopped, and realizing what she had done, she immediately colored and looked down. "Sorry."
"Aw, it's no problem really. Didn't know you were touchy; my bad." She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see him smiling in a friendly manner and she looked down again. In the living room, things hadn't been so bad, but in the dining room, she'd gone back to square one of her Shy- Board. It made it worse when her stomach growled again, this time sounding like thunder muffled by cotton.
"Hee-hee!" Robyn grinned. "Kitty, you're purring!"
Slowly, Katrin looked up at her older sister, her brown eyes turning black as a tight look encompassed her face. Robyn, knowing what she did wrong, humbled her features in a not-so-humble way and presented her head.
*WHAP!* Katrin smacked Robyn, hard.
And thus went their dinner.
-*Lin, are you okay?*- Robyn asked, finally throwing down her wall. She figured it was safe, since her friends didn't seem to be in as pissy moods as before. She was worried about Lin. Her prank earlier had been refreshing, but now she was sunk back into silent mode. Robyn felt Katrin was slowly growing used to things, but Lin was crawling at a snail's pace, aside from eating.
-*I'm fine,*- the redhead said as she chewed slowly on a small piece of chicken.
-*No you're not. Please talk.*-
-*I'm just not comfortable here,*- Lin replied.
-*I know, but that's never stopped you from opening up before. Come on. Please?*-
-*No! Okay! I said no!*- Stubbornly, Lin clenched her jaw. -*Maybe later, but not now. Okay?*-
Sighing mentally, Robyn conceded. -*Okay. But don't take too long.*-
-*Whatever.*-
*So what did you think? I decided to make this a Katrin chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it as a refreshing sort of change. Or something like that.
Slowly I'm developing ideas for future chapters, but I don't want to develop them much too quickly, or I'll run dry, and nobody wants that to happen. I'm hoping that I can keep writing this for a really long time. I love many-chaptered stories, but then those are kind of annoying because they can drag on and on and on and on and on just like I'm dragging on and on and on and on and on, but hey, oh well.
Questions? Comments? Review down below please! Pretty please? I'll give you a hug!
-Gray