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 4 By: Soulful Gray
Lin surveyed the room around her with little more than absolute dislike. It wasn't that the room was bad or anything; it was quite tastefully done, but she just didn't like the house it was set in. She didn't like the world it was set in for that matter.
-Dumb Ronins,- she thought. -Why does it have to be this place?-
She was sitting up in bed and fiddling with the end of the braid she had pulled her wavy red hair into. Katrin was asleep on the other side of the full-sized bed, lucky her. Robyn was curled up on the floor with just a comforter wrapped around her and a single large pillow under her head; Lin swore that girl could sleep anywhere. Of course, Robyn had also zoned before she fell asleep, so that made things easier for her. Lin had slept for a while, then woke up abruptly and couldn't get back to sleep.
After dinner earlier, the boys had volunteered to go get their stuff, since they were probably staying for a while. That had gone off okay until they got to Robyn's car.
Robyn had failed to mention how they were supposed to open the trunk. Nobody would have noticed there was anything wrong with the lid by the way she opened it earlier that day, but that was only because Robyn was used to it. No, if a stranger opened the trunk, they would doubtless loose a tooth or break a nose.
Her trunk was tricky. You had to push down after you turned the key and never let your hand off it as you raised it. Silly little Robyn. Causing so much mayhem.
Sage had been the unfortunate soul to receive the face full of metal as the trunk whooshed open and slammed into his face. It broke his nose and he had stumbled into the house holding the bleeding and pained piece of skin- covered cartilage. Lin, unable to help herself, had laughed.
His cold violet stare had not done one thing to stop her jovial mood. She just smirked at him, glad to see one of the Ronins, and the one who was the reason they were there no less, was feeling some pain. Little prankster that she was, Lin could not resist causing people she refused to like to suffer. Even if she hadn't been the one to deal the blow, it was still a great day in hell for her.
She looked over at the far corner of the room, next to the chest of drawers, where their luggage was piled.. With one flick of her hand, Robyn could have saved the boys the trouble of dragging the luggage all the way up the huge flight of stairs, but the blonde had silently insisted that they keep their powers a secret. Not that they had ever shown them to anyone else, but she was being especially strict about them right now.
She moved her gaze to her little sister, who had shifted. This had been the only room in the huge mansion that wasn't taken or used for storage, so all three of them had to cram inside it. Both Lin and Katrin were pretty slender so they fit well on the bed, but Robyn had immediately opted for the floor. She said it was because she shifted a lot and didn't want to kick anybody off the bed by accident, but Lin knew it was for different reasons.
Robyn was looking out for them, and much as Lin was grateful for this, it annoyed her too. She didn't want to be looked after. She was stubborn and independent, and even though her older sister never went out and said it, Robyn had appointed herself "little teacher, guide, mentor, guardian, etc., etc." Mostly because she was older and she was the one who was teaching them to develop their powers.
It aggravated Lin. Robyn was taking things slowly with them, and Lin itched for more. She was a bit jealous that Robyn could do everything she and Katrin could to without even trying, but it was the fact that Robyn didn't use those certain powers that curbed the jealousy. It didn't make it any easier that Lin was only mostly good with potions and charms, while Katrin could do something as cool as conjuring things. She wanted more, and Robyn was so slow with her lessons to them.
She wanted to be able to control the elements, levitate objects, disappear at will, fly, morph into other creatures! All the things her "teacher" could do and she couldn't. She was getting handy at telepathy, but she almost never used that; what good would that do her? Secret conversations, big whoop. And she was sure Robyn could do so much more than she was letting on.
Four years was a long time to find out about someone you were close to, but Lin knew she was only touching the tip of the iceberg when it came to knowing of Robyn's full scale of powers. And she knew the rest of the ice under the water was hiding much more than just potential magic; there was a past hidden in their somewhere.
Lin knew Robyn had been adopted by her current family when she was around thirteen. Before then she had been raised by her mother. That was all Lin really knew, besides that Robyn's mother had taught her much of what she knew. Anything else was off-limits. Robyn never talked about her mother, no matter what.
Lin was eager to tap into her sister's past as she was to get into her own power well. But she knew that until Robyn deemed it time, she was going to have to sit tight and relax.
Grumbling, Lin got out of bed and walked over to the dresser to her small travel pack of potions, contemplating taking something to help her sleep. But then she finally glanced out the window and saw the faint light of dawn past the trees of the forest that surrounded the house. Deciding against the potion, she opened up one of her suitcases and pulled out a pair of jeans, a gray tank-top, and some clean under garments. Mia had told her that there were towels in the bathroom if she wanted to take a shower or a bath, so she was going to do just that. Taking out her travel toiletries bag, she slipped out of the bedroom and padded down to the bathroom in her long t-shirt and plaid pajama pants.
Lin knew she was being abusive of the hospitality of Mia and the others, but she couldn't help her absolute dislike for the show. It was different now that she was a part of said show, but she couldn't stop her reluctance to find some sort of common ground with them, if only for a little while.
She knew that Katrin was probably going to find such a common ground, but Lin was just a little more stubborn.
She didn't hear anyone in the bathroom and she grabbed onto the handle and twisted. It whooshed inward quite easily and she was about to enter when she finally looked inside.
Inside, fully buff save for a towel covering essential parts, was Sage in all his blonde Adonis glory. He had a toothbrush in his mouth and a bit of toothpaste was covering his lips. He had paused in mid stroke of the brush and was staring at her with his visible eye going wide.
My he was a tasty looking warrior. Hell, all of them were, except Sekhmet; he gave her the creeps. But she hadn't seen all of them nearly nude, showing off wonderfully sculpted pecs, broad shoulders, and a washboard stomach she'd love to do her laundry on any day. Damn, even his toes were sexy! Realizing the track her train of thoughts had taken, she hit the brakes and derailed the sucker.
Without saying a word Lin turned around and softly closed the door behind her.
As she tread back down the hall to her room, Lin reprimanded herself. It wouldn't do her any good to suddenly develop a case of the hots for any of the guys in this world; it would go against everything she had sworn not to do while she was here, and it was also illogical. She lived in another world for crying out loud! Long distance relationships were one thing, but that was too long.
She snuck back into her room and wondered if she could whip up a charm to make them all ugly. At least Sage. She thought he was the cutest of them all, so logically she would want to avoid him at all costs. And in Robyn's little run-downs of all their personalities, she had claimed Sage to be a pimpin' flirt.
"Well, maybe not 'pimping' but damn near close to it," she had said.
She decided she'd go to work on that immediately. She didn't like him anyway, so it would be good for a prank. She loooooooved pranks.
Lin heard him vacate the bathroom and quickly slipped back to it so she could get in a shower. A half an hour later she was in much the same position as he had been when she had walked in on him, only she had the door locked and she was dressed. She brushed her teeth languidly as she scanned the contents of the bathroom.
There were five labeled baskets that had names on them. One was Kentoe's, another Rowen's, then Sekhmet's, and Cye's, and Sage's. They all held personal toiletries of each of those guys, so she figured this bathroom was mostly used just by those five guys. Her eyes zeroed in on Sage's and she paused in her brushing as she smirked.
There at the front was the ultra strong hair-gel Sage used for his blonde helmet that didn't seem to move. Her smirked widened into a grin and she spit and rinsed so she could get on with her suddenly evolving plan. Chuckling softly she pulled a bottle from her toiletries bag.
The gel bottle was exactly the same shape and size as the bottle of Vaseline she carried around for her little pranks. She snickered as she thought of the butter knives she had dipped in the gooey stuff and stuck into her least favorite teacher's yard. The Vaseline had prevented the old crone from pulling the knives out and the stream of obscenities that followed would have wilted a tree.
Her only problem was that the bottles were different colors. This was going to be tricky. The Vaseline bottle was dark blue and Sage's gel bottle was black. She supposed she could try simply switching the colors, but she wasn't very skilled in morphing things yet.
Taking a deep breath, Lin decided to chance it and she waved her hands over the two objects and willed them to change into one another. She closed her eyes as she did this, not sure if it would work or not.
When she opened her eyes, she had to smother a squeal of delight. The two bottles had indeed switched colors- to make sure, she squeezed the green bottle and out oozed Vaseline.
"Hehehe! Eat this, Sage," she muttered evilly as she placed the now green bottle of Vaseline in Sage's basket. He wouldn't use it until tomorrow morning, but the wait would be worth it in the long run.
Happy that she was about to do something evil, Lin left the bathroom and padded cheerily to her room to deposit her bag, and then nearly bounced down to the kitchen.
Her current victim was sitting at the dining room table, dipping coffee and reading a paper. He looked so calm and serious, and that bugged her. She wanted to ruffle his feathers quite badly just to see what he would look like if he was pissed off. And he would be, she knew. According to Robyn, this guy treated his hair as though it were a newborn baby, with tender care and affection and the skill of an artist.
She spotted the coffee maker and salivated; it smelled really, really good and she needed a burst of caffeine.
"Where are the coffee cups?" she asked by way of greeting, not bothering to bring up their brief meeting earlier that morning.
"Third cupboard, to your left," he said smoothly, and Lin could feel his eyes on her back as she reached into the cabinet to grab a cup and again as she was pouring her get-goer.
"Thanks," she said as she claimed a chair a few down from him and proceeded to spy on him through her long hair, which had fallen over the side of her face closest to him.
That morning, Sage hadn't expected anybody to walk in on him in the bathroom. He was the earliest riser in the whole Koji mansion, and usually had no fear of anyone walking in on him while he was in the buff. He had expected something like that from one of the three new girls least of all.
The Lin girl sitting a few chairs down from him had surprised him by suddenly opening the door on him. He had been lucky too, or he would have given her an eyeful. A moment more and he would have succeeded in unknotting his towel and letting it drop to the floor. He made a note to lock the door next time, if Lin was an early riser.
She had given him the elevator eyes in the few seconds she had stood there in surprise, but other than that he hadn't read much in the clear blue depths. She was good at keeping in her emotions, he noticed. He sensed it was a bit forced though. He hadn't seen one bit of interest in her eyes as she surveyed him, just calm acceptance of the fact that he was nearly in the buff before her.
Now that he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a green tank top, she seemed even less interested in him, if that were even possible. She was concentrating on her coffee, and when she spoke it was with cool detachment.
"What time is it?"
"Almost Six," he answered. He wanted to get a glimpse of her eyes, but it was nearly impossible through the man of red hair that separated them. He wanted to see what she was thinking if possible.
"Hmm." She made the noise as she sipped her coffee, and Sage felt like he had been dismissed. He decided to change tactics and flirt with her, if it would knock her a bit off guard.
"You have pretty hair," he said softly. The line was simple enough, but he was vain enough to know that it had knocked the socks off plenty of girls.
"Thanks." She didn't seem to care about his compliment and it aggravated him.
"You should pull it back sometime," he urged gently. "Stop hiding those crystal eyes of yours."
"Hmmm." Again, Lin seemed impervious to his charm, and Sage tried not to clench his fist around the section of newspaper he held. And just as he was about to say some more, she stood from the table and took her coffee out onto the deck that was just outside the kitchen. She slid the door open and closed, effectively locking him out as though he didn't exist.
Muttering something about stubborn women, Sage got up and refilled his cup of coffee.
Lin stood out on the deck for a long time, letting the cool morning air wash over her. As far as she could tell, it was just turning summer here, but it was still a bit nippy out with the last dregs of spring washing away. She shivered a bit; right now was the temperature that Robyn would enjoy while Lin preferred it much warmer. Katrin liked it warm too, but Robyn was their resident bury-herself-naked-in-the-snow Winter lover.
She sipped her coffee- she was almost out- and watched as the sun rose. She set her cup down and without a thought of self-consciousness, lifted her arms into the air to welcome the day with her embrace. As the warm rays encased her, she ignored the feeling of eyes watching her from inside the kitchen.
She knew Sage had been pissed that his attempts to flirt with her had been met with a wall. Lin couldn't help that she had been royally crowned the Ice Queen a long time ago and wasn't afraid to admit that she was impervious to boys' charms. It wasn't a big secret that she deflected any and all attempts by boys to go with her, and she certainly wasn't going to drop any of her walls for a Ronin.
Her stomach growled and she looked down at it, the sound having broken her reverie, and she smiled. She was an early riser out of habit from early- morning anime shows, and her stomach wanted sustenance!
Admitting that she owed the Ronins for putting up with her, and also just wanting to get some food, she walked back into the kitchen and refilled her coffee.
"Who usually cooks breakfast?" she asked as she surveyed the room.
"Cye does," he answered, and as if on cue, the water Ronin walked in. He looked ready to do battle in the kitchen by the look of sheer will he had plastered on his face. He stopped when he saw Lin standing there, surprised.
"Morning," she said. She glanced at the cupboards. "Do you mind if I help you this morning? It's the least I can do." She figured if she didn't have to like the guys, she also didn't need them as her enemy.
Cye seemed more than happy to let her help; he was quite a good-natured fellow and knew his way in the kitchen as well as the back of his hand. For the next hour or so, he ordered Lin about the kitchen, getting this or that, mixing that or this, throwing that away, and putting this in the batter. She found the work stimulating and just what she needed, her meditation of sorts. She liked having a task at hand and doing it.
Sage had vacated a long time ago, and as Cye flipped perfect pancakes on the griddle, he struck up a little conversation. Lin didn't say much to him; hey, just because she was helping him didn't mean she had to talk with him.
"So what's Katrin like, besides shy?" he asked, and Lin's protective hackles instantly rose.
"Why don't you ask her and find out?" -Or better yet, forget about the question entirely,- she thought as she sipped another cup of coffee.
As she asked that, a blush rose in his cheeks, and her hackles lowered. Well hot-diggity-dog, he was a shy one, just as shy as Katrin maybe. Then her hackles rose again at the thought of him pursuing her little sister. It would do neither of them any good to get into a relationship; they lived worlds apart, and that was just setting them up for a terrible fall.
What was she talking about? She didn't know the first thing about relationships, and she doubted Katrin was interested in the Brit beside her. No, Katrin probably wouldn't get into anything with Cye, so Lin figured she had little to worry about.
Cye never did answer the question, and a few minutes later he lost his chance at any more private questions, because Kentoe rushed into the room. Having predicted this, Cye barely skipped a beat in holding up a huge plate of pancakes and flipping over the ones on the griddle at the same time. It was quite amusing to see the big muscular dude grab up the plate, plop down at the table, and begin packing the pancakes away. A few minutes later and the whole table was filled with merry-making breakfast goers, and only two people were missing.
Rowen was gone, and they told Lin it was no surprise since Rowen was never an early-riser.
"That guy would sleep through another attack from the Dynasty if we let him," Ryo groused from the head of the table where he was seated next to Mia. Lin didn't know why, but those two looked like they would make a cute couple, but it looked as though they were fighting becoming just that.
The other missing person was none other than Robyn. It surprised Lin that the Ronin-Crazed girl was missing her second meal with her confirmed heroes, but then again, it was Robyn, and she could be unpredictable at her best.
"She was still on the floor when I came down," Katrin said from beside her. Lin looked over and saw that the tiger-loving brunette was affectionately petting White Blaze, who was enjoying the attention immensely. His blue eyes were closed and his huge tail was swinging slowly from side to side in his pleasure.
"On the floor?" Mia glanced up at this and her pretty blue eyes looked worried.
"Yeah," Katrin looked up finally. "She insisted on sleeping there."
"Oh my," Mia said. "She's probably going to be sore this morning."
"Don't worry about it," Lin replied. "Birdie can sleep anywhere without a problem."
"It's true," Katrin confirmed.
"But on a floor?" Mia tsked. "I'm going to get those other rooms cleaned out today if it kills me. We can't have any of you sleeping on the floor."
"Take our word for it," Lin insisted. "She sleeps in trees, on rocks, standing up, sitting down. The girl just turns herself into a zombie and that's all she wrote." She was surprising herself by being so open, but she found the mannerisms of her hosts to be contagious. She supposed it wouldn't hurt too much to be civil. They heard a thump and a yelp from upstairs and everyone was silent.
"Wall," they heard the faint grumble. "When was there a wall there?"
"She doesn't know where she is," Katrin said.
Another thump followed by the sound of something falling and being caught by unsteady hands came up next.
"Where'd that bloody vase come from?" they heard her grouse. A yawn came next and the end of it sounded like a little kitten squeaking.
"Coffee... need cooooofffffeeeeeeee...." another kittenish yawn. "Where'd that darn bathroom gooooooooo-ooooohhhHH! HOLY ARABIC MONKEYS!" A loud crash was heard, followed by an assorted mix of interesting sounds as Robyn's half-awake form tumbled down the stairs, rolled past the kitchen door, and hit the wall parallel to the foot of the stairs.
As everybody jumped to see that she was okay, she appeared in the doorway, swaying and groping for balance. When she attained it, she straightened and pointed at the stairs.
"Y'know... there's a staircase there?" Lin and Katrin had spent time getting dressed that morning, but it seemed that the rest of the household, aside from them, Sage, and Cye, were just too lazy to care, Robyn included. Her hair was braided into a pair of cute pigtails that hung behind her ears and they were frizzy from their contact with the floor. She had on a pair of green Lucky Charms pajama pants and a hideous green shirt that she seemed to love; the shirt and pants made her blonde hair stand out like gold, and showed bits of red that normally wouldn't be seen unless she donned the color. At her feet, clashing horribly, were EVIL PINK fuzzy bat slippers.
"Maybe you should fall again and kill those evil slippers," Lin muttered.
"And miss that chance to annoy you? No way..." Robyn stumbled to the cupboard, her coffee radar seeking out cups, and grabbed the biggest mug she could find. She filled it with the strong brew, which had steeped long enough to bend I-beams, and gulped it down as thought it were her salvation.
"That hurt a little," she said, twisting her neck as Cye handed her a plate of pancakes. She sat down next to Katrin and started to slowly make her way through the syrupy mass.
Everybody was staring at her and she must have felt their eyes because she looked up.
"What?" she asked, perplexed. "Do I have something on my face? Did I get a rug burn and am now bleeding horribly without even realizing it?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned to Lin.
"I had a weird dream about you, Lin. You were wearing a grass hula-skirt and one of those coconut bra thingies, sitting on Sage's shoulders, and slapping everybody with a rainbow colored jump-rope."
Lin blinked and turned away. "Okay. Scary!"
"It's not scary, it's terrifying," Katrin said, smothering a laugh with her hand.
"And you, Kitty. You were in one of those dominatrix outfits, carrying around a pillow and screaming, 'Where's my marshmallow!' to everyone." Robyn drank her coffee while Katrin choked on the piece of pancake she'd been chewing. The rest of the people at the table were just kind of staring at Robyn as if she were mad, which, let's face it, she is.
"Mia, what's a dominatrix?" Yulie asked.
"Never mind, Yulie," she said quickly.
"Ryo?" Ryo sputtered on the juice he was drinking and looked around wildly for an escape.
"Uhh, Yules, I ummm..."
"It's something you'll learn when you're about fifteen," Robyn said without missing a beat.
"But that's six years!" the little boy whined.
"Yup. You'll think it's gross if they tell you now."
"Oh." That shut the boy up as he continued eating.
Pretty soon, everybody had cleared their plates and were dispersing from the table. Robyn, more alert now, cheerfully volunteered to do the dishes. Lin didn't know what she had to be so chipper about; cleaning was never fun, but then again, it was Robyn.
Pretty soon, all the guys had cleared out, but all the girls stayed behind. Mia and Kayura were stacking the plates, Lin decided to be a sport and collected glasses and silverware, and Katrin was helping Robyn dry the dishes she had already washed.
"I must admit," Kayura began in her proper voice. "It is nice to have more girls in this house."
"I can imagine," Robyn said. "All those guys. Testosterone levels must be higher than all get-out."
"Tell me about it," Mia said as they lay the dirty dishes up on the sink.
Robyn, about that time, looked over at the slightly older woman and gave a thoughtful look.
"Mia, have you ever thought about having something done to your hair?" she asked just as Lin finished collecting the silverware.
That must have surprised Mia because she stuttered a bit. "Well.. no I guess... No.. I don't think so."
"I was just thinking," the blonde continued as she dried her hand and lifted a lock of the cinnamon hair Mia possessed. "It would look really, really pretty if you got it cut and high-lighted."
"You really think so?" Mia fingered her own locks a bit. "I must admit it is kind of boring."
"It's not boring at all!" Robyn was quick to say. "It's gorgeous the way it is, how full and shiny. But I'm just saying that trying something new might turn gorgeous into stunning."
"She's right, you know," Lin said as she studied the woman's locks. "About shoulder length, maybe, with a few twists of gold. Maybe a layer around the face. Simple." Lin glanced at Kayura, who seemed to be out of her element. "You too Kayura. You'd look great with your hair slightly bobbed to your chin."
Katrin was even getting into it. "Yeah, with a few tendrils near your ears, or you could brush it back to give it a wind blown look."
Mia and Kayura seemed to be soaking this in as they continued cleaning the kitchen. Robyn's eyes were sparkling at the thought of the two women find a new look. Both were pretty, but needed a little boost. Lin figured, what the heck, haven't anything better to do, and Katrin was starting to get excited over the prospect.
Knowing the seed had been planted and was rapidly germinating, it was only a matter of time before Mia popped the question they had waited for.
"Ah, Robyn? Lin? Katrin?" The three girls turned to the shy young woman and smiled.
"Would you, maybe go with us to... ummm..." Kayura began.
"To the mall to get our hair cut?" Mia finished. "And help us go shopping?" Mia must have known that she wasn't the most fashionably dressed person in the world.
"Name a day and we'll be at your mercy," Robyn said, smiling impishly.
Somewhere Else in the World... (Ooh. Finally we're somewhere other than the Ronins!)
Long, slender fingers tapped gracefully against the glass of the crystal ball. The fingers belonged to an equally slender hand and traveled up a pale wrist which lost itself in the colorful folds of a kimono sleeve. The kimono was delicately patterned with twisting silver vines and leaves, the background of the material a deep blue. Traveling up the sleeve you came to delicate shoulders and went up a swan-like neck to a pixie-like face.
Beautiful gray eyes were set into a pay face, and the orbs were almond shaped and lined with thick, long lashes. Long silver hair framed the beautiful face as it gazed into the depths of the crystal ball.
And image was inlaid in the ball, that of a man, nude and writhing in pain, with long red tresses and fiery green eyes. He was obviously a warrior, by his long lean body and built frame. He was laying on a floor, screaming out his pain as invisible flames licked at his flesh.
A sigh of longing escaped black lips as the feminine beauty stared at the man.
"Kaiden," said the beauty, and the voice was husky and low, obviously not a female's voice. "Bring him here. Bring me my Anubis..."
Kaiden, the Hunter, stood to the side of the beauty's chair and stepped into the light briefly as he strode to do his master's bidding. Kaiden was largely built, with a frame of muscles that bespoke of the strength to lift a hundred times his own weight. Blond hair was short cropped above his ears and his eyes were like dark lumps of dingy coal. He was graceful and silent for a man of his size. He left the room only to return moments later.
Anubis, once bearer of the Armor of Cruelty, once the Holder of the Ancient's staff, now lay limply at the ethereal beauty's feet.
"Anubis..." whispered the man. "Look at me..."
He did not dare as he tried to push his nude body to its feet.
"I said look at me. I am your Gray-Eyed Angel. I am your master, Lasheen. Look at me, my love." Lasheen's gray eyes were the color of pure silver now as they gazed upon Anubis's scarred body.
"Never..." Anubis snarled in his cool, masculine voice.
"Hmph!" came the delicate noise from Lasheen's throat. He waved his hand. "I will have you Anubis, so do not keep this up for long. I will have you and the world as my prize," he whispered as Kaiden drug the battered warrior back to his lair of pain.
Moments later as Anubis tried to refute the pain that grabbed at him from the inside out, he closed his eyes so he could dream of his real Gray-Eyed Angel. The one who he had visions of since before he had been brought back to life and tortured under Lasheen.
Lasheen, meanwhile, called up an image of the young woman Anubis was dreaming of, and a soft snarl left his lips, revealing sharp teeth. A pair of silvery, feathered wings spread out from behind him with the force of his anger. How dare this woman control Anubis! How dare she be his salvation from pain! Lasheen should be that soul to control and comfort Anubis!
"Kaiden... Bring me this Angel..."
**********************************************************************
*Love it? Hate it? What did you think? Please review! Constructive criticism welcome, wanted, cherished!
-Gray
Note: -* words* - means shared thoughts between the girls.
Chapter 4 By: Soulful Gray
Lin surveyed the room around her with little more than absolute dislike. It wasn't that the room was bad or anything; it was quite tastefully done, but she just didn't like the house it was set in. She didn't like the world it was set in for that matter.
-Dumb Ronins,- she thought. -Why does it have to be this place?-
She was sitting up in bed and fiddling with the end of the braid she had pulled her wavy red hair into. Katrin was asleep on the other side of the full-sized bed, lucky her. Robyn was curled up on the floor with just a comforter wrapped around her and a single large pillow under her head; Lin swore that girl could sleep anywhere. Of course, Robyn had also zoned before she fell asleep, so that made things easier for her. Lin had slept for a while, then woke up abruptly and couldn't get back to sleep.
After dinner earlier, the boys had volunteered to go get their stuff, since they were probably staying for a while. That had gone off okay until they got to Robyn's car.
Robyn had failed to mention how they were supposed to open the trunk. Nobody would have noticed there was anything wrong with the lid by the way she opened it earlier that day, but that was only because Robyn was used to it. No, if a stranger opened the trunk, they would doubtless loose a tooth or break a nose.
Her trunk was tricky. You had to push down after you turned the key and never let your hand off it as you raised it. Silly little Robyn. Causing so much mayhem.
Sage had been the unfortunate soul to receive the face full of metal as the trunk whooshed open and slammed into his face. It broke his nose and he had stumbled into the house holding the bleeding and pained piece of skin- covered cartilage. Lin, unable to help herself, had laughed.
His cold violet stare had not done one thing to stop her jovial mood. She just smirked at him, glad to see one of the Ronins, and the one who was the reason they were there no less, was feeling some pain. Little prankster that she was, Lin could not resist causing people she refused to like to suffer. Even if she hadn't been the one to deal the blow, it was still a great day in hell for her.
She looked over at the far corner of the room, next to the chest of drawers, where their luggage was piled.. With one flick of her hand, Robyn could have saved the boys the trouble of dragging the luggage all the way up the huge flight of stairs, but the blonde had silently insisted that they keep their powers a secret. Not that they had ever shown them to anyone else, but she was being especially strict about them right now.
She moved her gaze to her little sister, who had shifted. This had been the only room in the huge mansion that wasn't taken or used for storage, so all three of them had to cram inside it. Both Lin and Katrin were pretty slender so they fit well on the bed, but Robyn had immediately opted for the floor. She said it was because she shifted a lot and didn't want to kick anybody off the bed by accident, but Lin knew it was for different reasons.
Robyn was looking out for them, and much as Lin was grateful for this, it annoyed her too. She didn't want to be looked after. She was stubborn and independent, and even though her older sister never went out and said it, Robyn had appointed herself "little teacher, guide, mentor, guardian, etc., etc." Mostly because she was older and she was the one who was teaching them to develop their powers.
It aggravated Lin. Robyn was taking things slowly with them, and Lin itched for more. She was a bit jealous that Robyn could do everything she and Katrin could to without even trying, but it was the fact that Robyn didn't use those certain powers that curbed the jealousy. It didn't make it any easier that Lin was only mostly good with potions and charms, while Katrin could do something as cool as conjuring things. She wanted more, and Robyn was so slow with her lessons to them.
She wanted to be able to control the elements, levitate objects, disappear at will, fly, morph into other creatures! All the things her "teacher" could do and she couldn't. She was getting handy at telepathy, but she almost never used that; what good would that do her? Secret conversations, big whoop. And she was sure Robyn could do so much more than she was letting on.
Four years was a long time to find out about someone you were close to, but Lin knew she was only touching the tip of the iceberg when it came to knowing of Robyn's full scale of powers. And she knew the rest of the ice under the water was hiding much more than just potential magic; there was a past hidden in their somewhere.
Lin knew Robyn had been adopted by her current family when she was around thirteen. Before then she had been raised by her mother. That was all Lin really knew, besides that Robyn's mother had taught her much of what she knew. Anything else was off-limits. Robyn never talked about her mother, no matter what.
Lin was eager to tap into her sister's past as she was to get into her own power well. But she knew that until Robyn deemed it time, she was going to have to sit tight and relax.
Grumbling, Lin got out of bed and walked over to the dresser to her small travel pack of potions, contemplating taking something to help her sleep. But then she finally glanced out the window and saw the faint light of dawn past the trees of the forest that surrounded the house. Deciding against the potion, she opened up one of her suitcases and pulled out a pair of jeans, a gray tank-top, and some clean under garments. Mia had told her that there were towels in the bathroom if she wanted to take a shower or a bath, so she was going to do just that. Taking out her travel toiletries bag, she slipped out of the bedroom and padded down to the bathroom in her long t-shirt and plaid pajama pants.
Lin knew she was being abusive of the hospitality of Mia and the others, but she couldn't help her absolute dislike for the show. It was different now that she was a part of said show, but she couldn't stop her reluctance to find some sort of common ground with them, if only for a little while.
She knew that Katrin was probably going to find such a common ground, but Lin was just a little more stubborn.
She didn't hear anyone in the bathroom and she grabbed onto the handle and twisted. It whooshed inward quite easily and she was about to enter when she finally looked inside.
Inside, fully buff save for a towel covering essential parts, was Sage in all his blonde Adonis glory. He had a toothbrush in his mouth and a bit of toothpaste was covering his lips. He had paused in mid stroke of the brush and was staring at her with his visible eye going wide.
My he was a tasty looking warrior. Hell, all of them were, except Sekhmet; he gave her the creeps. But she hadn't seen all of them nearly nude, showing off wonderfully sculpted pecs, broad shoulders, and a washboard stomach she'd love to do her laundry on any day. Damn, even his toes were sexy! Realizing the track her train of thoughts had taken, she hit the brakes and derailed the sucker.
Without saying a word Lin turned around and softly closed the door behind her.
As she tread back down the hall to her room, Lin reprimanded herself. It wouldn't do her any good to suddenly develop a case of the hots for any of the guys in this world; it would go against everything she had sworn not to do while she was here, and it was also illogical. She lived in another world for crying out loud! Long distance relationships were one thing, but that was too long.
She snuck back into her room and wondered if she could whip up a charm to make them all ugly. At least Sage. She thought he was the cutest of them all, so logically she would want to avoid him at all costs. And in Robyn's little run-downs of all their personalities, she had claimed Sage to be a pimpin' flirt.
"Well, maybe not 'pimping' but damn near close to it," she had said.
She decided she'd go to work on that immediately. She didn't like him anyway, so it would be good for a prank. She loooooooved pranks.
Lin heard him vacate the bathroom and quickly slipped back to it so she could get in a shower. A half an hour later she was in much the same position as he had been when she had walked in on him, only she had the door locked and she was dressed. She brushed her teeth languidly as she scanned the contents of the bathroom.
There were five labeled baskets that had names on them. One was Kentoe's, another Rowen's, then Sekhmet's, and Cye's, and Sage's. They all held personal toiletries of each of those guys, so she figured this bathroom was mostly used just by those five guys. Her eyes zeroed in on Sage's and she paused in her brushing as she smirked.
There at the front was the ultra strong hair-gel Sage used for his blonde helmet that didn't seem to move. Her smirked widened into a grin and she spit and rinsed so she could get on with her suddenly evolving plan. Chuckling softly she pulled a bottle from her toiletries bag.
The gel bottle was exactly the same shape and size as the bottle of Vaseline she carried around for her little pranks. She snickered as she thought of the butter knives she had dipped in the gooey stuff and stuck into her least favorite teacher's yard. The Vaseline had prevented the old crone from pulling the knives out and the stream of obscenities that followed would have wilted a tree.
Her only problem was that the bottles were different colors. This was going to be tricky. The Vaseline bottle was dark blue and Sage's gel bottle was black. She supposed she could try simply switching the colors, but she wasn't very skilled in morphing things yet.
Taking a deep breath, Lin decided to chance it and she waved her hands over the two objects and willed them to change into one another. She closed her eyes as she did this, not sure if it would work or not.
When she opened her eyes, she had to smother a squeal of delight. The two bottles had indeed switched colors- to make sure, she squeezed the green bottle and out oozed Vaseline.
"Hehehe! Eat this, Sage," she muttered evilly as she placed the now green bottle of Vaseline in Sage's basket. He wouldn't use it until tomorrow morning, but the wait would be worth it in the long run.
Happy that she was about to do something evil, Lin left the bathroom and padded cheerily to her room to deposit her bag, and then nearly bounced down to the kitchen.
Her current victim was sitting at the dining room table, dipping coffee and reading a paper. He looked so calm and serious, and that bugged her. She wanted to ruffle his feathers quite badly just to see what he would look like if he was pissed off. And he would be, she knew. According to Robyn, this guy treated his hair as though it were a newborn baby, with tender care and affection and the skill of an artist.
She spotted the coffee maker and salivated; it smelled really, really good and she needed a burst of caffeine.
"Where are the coffee cups?" she asked by way of greeting, not bothering to bring up their brief meeting earlier that morning.
"Third cupboard, to your left," he said smoothly, and Lin could feel his eyes on her back as she reached into the cabinet to grab a cup and again as she was pouring her get-goer.
"Thanks," she said as she claimed a chair a few down from him and proceeded to spy on him through her long hair, which had fallen over the side of her face closest to him.
That morning, Sage hadn't expected anybody to walk in on him in the bathroom. He was the earliest riser in the whole Koji mansion, and usually had no fear of anyone walking in on him while he was in the buff. He had expected something like that from one of the three new girls least of all.
The Lin girl sitting a few chairs down from him had surprised him by suddenly opening the door on him. He had been lucky too, or he would have given her an eyeful. A moment more and he would have succeeded in unknotting his towel and letting it drop to the floor. He made a note to lock the door next time, if Lin was an early riser.
She had given him the elevator eyes in the few seconds she had stood there in surprise, but other than that he hadn't read much in the clear blue depths. She was good at keeping in her emotions, he noticed. He sensed it was a bit forced though. He hadn't seen one bit of interest in her eyes as she surveyed him, just calm acceptance of the fact that he was nearly in the buff before her.
Now that he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a green tank top, she seemed even less interested in him, if that were even possible. She was concentrating on her coffee, and when she spoke it was with cool detachment.
"What time is it?"
"Almost Six," he answered. He wanted to get a glimpse of her eyes, but it was nearly impossible through the man of red hair that separated them. He wanted to see what she was thinking if possible.
"Hmm." She made the noise as she sipped her coffee, and Sage felt like he had been dismissed. He decided to change tactics and flirt with her, if it would knock her a bit off guard.
"You have pretty hair," he said softly. The line was simple enough, but he was vain enough to know that it had knocked the socks off plenty of girls.
"Thanks." She didn't seem to care about his compliment and it aggravated him.
"You should pull it back sometime," he urged gently. "Stop hiding those crystal eyes of yours."
"Hmmm." Again, Lin seemed impervious to his charm, and Sage tried not to clench his fist around the section of newspaper he held. And just as he was about to say some more, she stood from the table and took her coffee out onto the deck that was just outside the kitchen. She slid the door open and closed, effectively locking him out as though he didn't exist.
Muttering something about stubborn women, Sage got up and refilled his cup of coffee.
Lin stood out on the deck for a long time, letting the cool morning air wash over her. As far as she could tell, it was just turning summer here, but it was still a bit nippy out with the last dregs of spring washing away. She shivered a bit; right now was the temperature that Robyn would enjoy while Lin preferred it much warmer. Katrin liked it warm too, but Robyn was their resident bury-herself-naked-in-the-snow Winter lover.
She sipped her coffee- she was almost out- and watched as the sun rose. She set her cup down and without a thought of self-consciousness, lifted her arms into the air to welcome the day with her embrace. As the warm rays encased her, she ignored the feeling of eyes watching her from inside the kitchen.
She knew Sage had been pissed that his attempts to flirt with her had been met with a wall. Lin couldn't help that she had been royally crowned the Ice Queen a long time ago and wasn't afraid to admit that she was impervious to boys' charms. It wasn't a big secret that she deflected any and all attempts by boys to go with her, and she certainly wasn't going to drop any of her walls for a Ronin.
Her stomach growled and she looked down at it, the sound having broken her reverie, and she smiled. She was an early riser out of habit from early- morning anime shows, and her stomach wanted sustenance!
Admitting that she owed the Ronins for putting up with her, and also just wanting to get some food, she walked back into the kitchen and refilled her coffee.
"Who usually cooks breakfast?" she asked as she surveyed the room.
"Cye does," he answered, and as if on cue, the water Ronin walked in. He looked ready to do battle in the kitchen by the look of sheer will he had plastered on his face. He stopped when he saw Lin standing there, surprised.
"Morning," she said. She glanced at the cupboards. "Do you mind if I help you this morning? It's the least I can do." She figured if she didn't have to like the guys, she also didn't need them as her enemy.
Cye seemed more than happy to let her help; he was quite a good-natured fellow and knew his way in the kitchen as well as the back of his hand. For the next hour or so, he ordered Lin about the kitchen, getting this or that, mixing that or this, throwing that away, and putting this in the batter. She found the work stimulating and just what she needed, her meditation of sorts. She liked having a task at hand and doing it.
Sage had vacated a long time ago, and as Cye flipped perfect pancakes on the griddle, he struck up a little conversation. Lin didn't say much to him; hey, just because she was helping him didn't mean she had to talk with him.
"So what's Katrin like, besides shy?" he asked, and Lin's protective hackles instantly rose.
"Why don't you ask her and find out?" -Or better yet, forget about the question entirely,- she thought as she sipped another cup of coffee.
As she asked that, a blush rose in his cheeks, and her hackles lowered. Well hot-diggity-dog, he was a shy one, just as shy as Katrin maybe. Then her hackles rose again at the thought of him pursuing her little sister. It would do neither of them any good to get into a relationship; they lived worlds apart, and that was just setting them up for a terrible fall.
What was she talking about? She didn't know the first thing about relationships, and she doubted Katrin was interested in the Brit beside her. No, Katrin probably wouldn't get into anything with Cye, so Lin figured she had little to worry about.
Cye never did answer the question, and a few minutes later he lost his chance at any more private questions, because Kentoe rushed into the room. Having predicted this, Cye barely skipped a beat in holding up a huge plate of pancakes and flipping over the ones on the griddle at the same time. It was quite amusing to see the big muscular dude grab up the plate, plop down at the table, and begin packing the pancakes away. A few minutes later and the whole table was filled with merry-making breakfast goers, and only two people were missing.
Rowen was gone, and they told Lin it was no surprise since Rowen was never an early-riser.
"That guy would sleep through another attack from the Dynasty if we let him," Ryo groused from the head of the table where he was seated next to Mia. Lin didn't know why, but those two looked like they would make a cute couple, but it looked as though they were fighting becoming just that.
The other missing person was none other than Robyn. It surprised Lin that the Ronin-Crazed girl was missing her second meal with her confirmed heroes, but then again, it was Robyn, and she could be unpredictable at her best.
"She was still on the floor when I came down," Katrin said from beside her. Lin looked over and saw that the tiger-loving brunette was affectionately petting White Blaze, who was enjoying the attention immensely. His blue eyes were closed and his huge tail was swinging slowly from side to side in his pleasure.
"On the floor?" Mia glanced up at this and her pretty blue eyes looked worried.
"Yeah," Katrin looked up finally. "She insisted on sleeping there."
"Oh my," Mia said. "She's probably going to be sore this morning."
"Don't worry about it," Lin replied. "Birdie can sleep anywhere without a problem."
"It's true," Katrin confirmed.
"But on a floor?" Mia tsked. "I'm going to get those other rooms cleaned out today if it kills me. We can't have any of you sleeping on the floor."
"Take our word for it," Lin insisted. "She sleeps in trees, on rocks, standing up, sitting down. The girl just turns herself into a zombie and that's all she wrote." She was surprising herself by being so open, but she found the mannerisms of her hosts to be contagious. She supposed it wouldn't hurt too much to be civil. They heard a thump and a yelp from upstairs and everyone was silent.
"Wall," they heard the faint grumble. "When was there a wall there?"
"She doesn't know where she is," Katrin said.
Another thump followed by the sound of something falling and being caught by unsteady hands came up next.
"Where'd that bloody vase come from?" they heard her grouse. A yawn came next and the end of it sounded like a little kitten squeaking.
"Coffee... need cooooofffffeeeeeeee...." another kittenish yawn. "Where'd that darn bathroom gooooooooo-ooooohhhHH! HOLY ARABIC MONKEYS!" A loud crash was heard, followed by an assorted mix of interesting sounds as Robyn's half-awake form tumbled down the stairs, rolled past the kitchen door, and hit the wall parallel to the foot of the stairs.
As everybody jumped to see that she was okay, she appeared in the doorway, swaying and groping for balance. When she attained it, she straightened and pointed at the stairs.
"Y'know... there's a staircase there?" Lin and Katrin had spent time getting dressed that morning, but it seemed that the rest of the household, aside from them, Sage, and Cye, were just too lazy to care, Robyn included. Her hair was braided into a pair of cute pigtails that hung behind her ears and they were frizzy from their contact with the floor. She had on a pair of green Lucky Charms pajama pants and a hideous green shirt that she seemed to love; the shirt and pants made her blonde hair stand out like gold, and showed bits of red that normally wouldn't be seen unless she donned the color. At her feet, clashing horribly, were EVIL PINK fuzzy bat slippers.
"Maybe you should fall again and kill those evil slippers," Lin muttered.
"And miss that chance to annoy you? No way..." Robyn stumbled to the cupboard, her coffee radar seeking out cups, and grabbed the biggest mug she could find. She filled it with the strong brew, which had steeped long enough to bend I-beams, and gulped it down as thought it were her salvation.
"That hurt a little," she said, twisting her neck as Cye handed her a plate of pancakes. She sat down next to Katrin and started to slowly make her way through the syrupy mass.
Everybody was staring at her and she must have felt their eyes because she looked up.
"What?" she asked, perplexed. "Do I have something on my face? Did I get a rug burn and am now bleeding horribly without even realizing it?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned to Lin.
"I had a weird dream about you, Lin. You were wearing a grass hula-skirt and one of those coconut bra thingies, sitting on Sage's shoulders, and slapping everybody with a rainbow colored jump-rope."
Lin blinked and turned away. "Okay. Scary!"
"It's not scary, it's terrifying," Katrin said, smothering a laugh with her hand.
"And you, Kitty. You were in one of those dominatrix outfits, carrying around a pillow and screaming, 'Where's my marshmallow!' to everyone." Robyn drank her coffee while Katrin choked on the piece of pancake she'd been chewing. The rest of the people at the table were just kind of staring at Robyn as if she were mad, which, let's face it, she is.
"Mia, what's a dominatrix?" Yulie asked.
"Never mind, Yulie," she said quickly.
"Ryo?" Ryo sputtered on the juice he was drinking and looked around wildly for an escape.
"Uhh, Yules, I ummm..."
"It's something you'll learn when you're about fifteen," Robyn said without missing a beat.
"But that's six years!" the little boy whined.
"Yup. You'll think it's gross if they tell you now."
"Oh." That shut the boy up as he continued eating.
Pretty soon, everybody had cleared their plates and were dispersing from the table. Robyn, more alert now, cheerfully volunteered to do the dishes. Lin didn't know what she had to be so chipper about; cleaning was never fun, but then again, it was Robyn.
Pretty soon, all the guys had cleared out, but all the girls stayed behind. Mia and Kayura were stacking the plates, Lin decided to be a sport and collected glasses and silverware, and Katrin was helping Robyn dry the dishes she had already washed.
"I must admit," Kayura began in her proper voice. "It is nice to have more girls in this house."
"I can imagine," Robyn said. "All those guys. Testosterone levels must be higher than all get-out."
"Tell me about it," Mia said as they lay the dirty dishes up on the sink.
Robyn, about that time, looked over at the slightly older woman and gave a thoughtful look.
"Mia, have you ever thought about having something done to your hair?" she asked just as Lin finished collecting the silverware.
That must have surprised Mia because she stuttered a bit. "Well.. no I guess... No.. I don't think so."
"I was just thinking," the blonde continued as she dried her hand and lifted a lock of the cinnamon hair Mia possessed. "It would look really, really pretty if you got it cut and high-lighted."
"You really think so?" Mia fingered her own locks a bit. "I must admit it is kind of boring."
"It's not boring at all!" Robyn was quick to say. "It's gorgeous the way it is, how full and shiny. But I'm just saying that trying something new might turn gorgeous into stunning."
"She's right, you know," Lin said as she studied the woman's locks. "About shoulder length, maybe, with a few twists of gold. Maybe a layer around the face. Simple." Lin glanced at Kayura, who seemed to be out of her element. "You too Kayura. You'd look great with your hair slightly bobbed to your chin."
Katrin was even getting into it. "Yeah, with a few tendrils near your ears, or you could brush it back to give it a wind blown look."
Mia and Kayura seemed to be soaking this in as they continued cleaning the kitchen. Robyn's eyes were sparkling at the thought of the two women find a new look. Both were pretty, but needed a little boost. Lin figured, what the heck, haven't anything better to do, and Katrin was starting to get excited over the prospect.
Knowing the seed had been planted and was rapidly germinating, it was only a matter of time before Mia popped the question they had waited for.
"Ah, Robyn? Lin? Katrin?" The three girls turned to the shy young woman and smiled.
"Would you, maybe go with us to... ummm..." Kayura began.
"To the mall to get our hair cut?" Mia finished. "And help us go shopping?" Mia must have known that she wasn't the most fashionably dressed person in the world.
"Name a day and we'll be at your mercy," Robyn said, smiling impishly.
Somewhere Else in the World... (Ooh. Finally we're somewhere other than the Ronins!)
Long, slender fingers tapped gracefully against the glass of the crystal ball. The fingers belonged to an equally slender hand and traveled up a pale wrist which lost itself in the colorful folds of a kimono sleeve. The kimono was delicately patterned with twisting silver vines and leaves, the background of the material a deep blue. Traveling up the sleeve you came to delicate shoulders and went up a swan-like neck to a pixie-like face.
Beautiful gray eyes were set into a pay face, and the orbs were almond shaped and lined with thick, long lashes. Long silver hair framed the beautiful face as it gazed into the depths of the crystal ball.
And image was inlaid in the ball, that of a man, nude and writhing in pain, with long red tresses and fiery green eyes. He was obviously a warrior, by his long lean body and built frame. He was laying on a floor, screaming out his pain as invisible flames licked at his flesh.
A sigh of longing escaped black lips as the feminine beauty stared at the man.
"Kaiden," said the beauty, and the voice was husky and low, obviously not a female's voice. "Bring him here. Bring me my Anubis..."
Kaiden, the Hunter, stood to the side of the beauty's chair and stepped into the light briefly as he strode to do his master's bidding. Kaiden was largely built, with a frame of muscles that bespoke of the strength to lift a hundred times his own weight. Blond hair was short cropped above his ears and his eyes were like dark lumps of dingy coal. He was graceful and silent for a man of his size. He left the room only to return moments later.
Anubis, once bearer of the Armor of Cruelty, once the Holder of the Ancient's staff, now lay limply at the ethereal beauty's feet.
"Anubis..." whispered the man. "Look at me..."
He did not dare as he tried to push his nude body to its feet.
"I said look at me. I am your Gray-Eyed Angel. I am your master, Lasheen. Look at me, my love." Lasheen's gray eyes were the color of pure silver now as they gazed upon Anubis's scarred body.
"Never..." Anubis snarled in his cool, masculine voice.
"Hmph!" came the delicate noise from Lasheen's throat. He waved his hand. "I will have you Anubis, so do not keep this up for long. I will have you and the world as my prize," he whispered as Kaiden drug the battered warrior back to his lair of pain.
Moments later as Anubis tried to refute the pain that grabbed at him from the inside out, he closed his eyes so he could dream of his real Gray-Eyed Angel. The one who he had visions of since before he had been brought back to life and tortured under Lasheen.
Lasheen, meanwhile, called up an image of the young woman Anubis was dreaming of, and a soft snarl left his lips, revealing sharp teeth. A pair of silvery, feathered wings spread out from behind him with the force of his anger. How dare this woman control Anubis! How dare she be his salvation from pain! Lasheen should be that soul to control and comfort Anubis!
"Kaiden... Bring me this Angel..."
**********************************************************************
*Love it? Hate it? What did you think? Please review! Constructive criticism welcome, wanted, cherished!
-Gray