Notes: Wasn't sure if I should put replies at the beginning or wait until the end. I'm going to try the beginning and see how that works out. If anyone has any ideas for this story's later chapters then throw them at me.
Those that want more information on the Samurai Troopers and the other main characters in the series, there are two great sites to check out.
Theria's YST page (delete the spaces in the URL www. theria. net/ yst/index.html) has character bios, summaries on the first eight episodes of the tv series. Also summaries have been done for the OAVs. The first volume of message as links for the Troopers new Yoroi/armor. It also has a fairly good image gallery too.
Nina's YST FAQs page (members3. boardhost. com/ ninayst/) has complete bios on all the Troopers, the Mashos, Kayura, Nasuti, and Jun. It also has translations for some of the drama CDs that were done during the series.
Agent G: glomps Thank you, thank you for your permission to write in your Justice League: The Spider storyline. Now about the Cecil Morris. Actually, I just needed someone to fly Peter back to Metropolis so I made him up. That's the only time that he will be mention in this story. As for the time, it's set a year after he arrived in your story. I'll probably have it that he was on break between semesters.
Thietje: Glad you like it. Hope this second chapter is as good as the first.
Jezrianna: Ah, Slash/Yaoi. It's a writing term for a Homosexual pairing between two of the characters. In this case it will be between Touma Hashiba and Seiji Date. Nothing graphic will be shown in this story. The only thing you will be seeing is hand holding between the two and a kiss, much later in the story. As for the grammar and spell check, I don't catch all of them. I do have a beta for my Yugioh story but I don't know if she would be willing to check this one. I do have one other that betas my RPG posts but I'm not sure she will be willing to do it. She does have a life, unlike me. grins sheepishly
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Title: Of Justice and Samurai Honor Author: Star Lin
Part 2
Peter frowned at the small bit of information that Lois had found. "This was the only thing?" he asked, looking at the strange cloud formation. The clouds looked as if they were in the shape of samurai armors and were reenacting a battle of some sort. "What do you think, Clark?"
The two turned to Clark, watching him pull his glasses down and stare intently at the picture. "I believe it is real. I can't see any tampering with it," he told them. "Can you find out when and where this was taken at, Lois?"
"It was taken over the Japanese Government building about eight years ago." Lois said. "It was an emergency meeting..." She did another search, a frowned forming on her lips. "But I can't find the details on the meeting."
"Probably what to do about clouds putting on a play," said Peter. "I'll see what I can do about getting the minutes for that meeting." He grinned at both Lois and Clark. "Don't worry, I'll cover my tracks."
Lois looked over at Clark. "Well, this may not be related to what Jimmy caught on film," she said, tapping the screen. "Do we even know if this person could be a danger to the city or not?"
"We might have to wait to see if he shows up again," Clark said. "We can start this up again after the dinner with Ryo." Lois nodded in agreement, saving the information she had founded, and stood up. "Coming, Peter?"
"I'll stay here for a couple of hours, in case they need a photographer," Peter told them. "I'll be back at six."
----------
Ryo had been sent to with the sports reporter to cover the soccer tryouts. He had been able to get some pretty good shots of the players. Since he had play soccer during high school and college, he had spotted some of the brighter talents during the tryouts. Now back in the newsroom, he searched out Jimmy.
"Jimmy, would it be alright if I develop these here. I can't set up a dark room until I get an apartment." He looked around, not seeing Peter, Clark, or Lois in the newsroom. "Where are Kent and the others?"
"Clark and Lois left about an hour ago." Jimmy said, watching the TV screen that was up in the newsroom. "Dang, why I have to get laid up? Peter is going to get some great shots of Superman and Spider-Man."
Ryo turned his attention to the TV, also noticing that some of the other reporters had done the same. On the screen was the familiar blue and red of Superman. He had seen some of the pictures of the space alien and had been surprise at how human he looked. It looked like there was an armor car being held up or it was. Superman had three of the robbers by their collars. The other two were caught up in what look like some sort of web-like substance. A person in a red and blue costume with a large black spider on the back was sitting on the wall.
"I've seen pictures of Superman while I travel a little but who is the guy in the spider costume?" Ryo asked.
"Ah, that's Spider-Man," Jimmy said. "He showed up about a year ago. I think he's making his home in New York now, except for when he's working with the Justice League."
"Wow." Ryo whispered. 'At least America won't be boring,' he thought. 'Hope Touma is online tonight. He might find this interesting.' He looked over to Jimmy. "Does this kind of thing happen often?"
"Not usually," Jimmy said. "Looks like Superman and Spider-Man have it wrapped up." Jimmy stood up, grimacing slightly as his broken arm shifted in the sling. "I'll take you to the dark room."
"How's your arm and the other reporter doing?" Ryo asked, looking down at the broken arm and then up at the bandage cheek.
Jimmy blinked at the question. "Boy, you got the office gossip fast." He pointed at the cast. "This will be gone, I hope, in six weeks. Ralph will be back by the end of this week. But I'm going to send him into next week for almost getting us killed." Jimmy then went on to tell Ryo about what happen to him and Ralph. "We should have been crushed but it look like the wall was slice in half. Ralph has more burns along the back of his arms but they were first degree. My arm got broken after one section broke off and hit it when I tried to block it from hitting my face. The ER doctor kept me overnight."
"...I'm sorry," Ryo said.
"Why should you be sorry?" Jimmy asked. "Even if you had been right there, you probably would have gotten hurt as well." He stopped in front of a door. The light above the door was off so that meant no one was using it. Still, he knocked on the door, waiting to see if someone might have been in there. "OK, go through this door, and make sure it's shut before opening the second door."
Ryo nodded and watch Jimmy walk away, blue eyes taking on a sad light. 'I am sorry, Jimmy. If I had cut that wall a different way then neither you nor Ralph would have been hurt.' He slipped into the dark room, planning to get the pictures done before he was supposed to be at Kent's apartment.
----------
Peter finished setting up the silverware as Lois place the salad down in the center of the table. "There, I think this should do it," he said. "Hope Ryo doesn't mind dinner being a little late."
"I'm just glad that it was a simple armor car robbery instead of a super-villain." Lois said, giving a smile to Clark, as he added the finishing touches to the stew. She saw Clark tilted his head. "What is it?"
"Ryo is on his way up," Clark said. He poured the stew into a serving bowl. "Peter, set this on the table while I clean up in here."
While Peter took the stew to the table, Clark used his super speed to clean up the pot and pan he had used to fix his mother's beef stew recipe in.
The doorbell rang. "I got it, Clark," Lois said, moving to the door. She opened the door just as Clark came out of the kitchen area with a pitcher of tea. She gave a smile to Ryo. "Hello, Ryo. Come in. You didn't have any trouble finding the apartment?"
Ryo stood in the doorway, slightly nervous as he looked over the inside of Clark's apartment. He was dress in a pair of clean, if faded, blue jeans, with a button up red shirt. He ran his hand through his black hair. "I'm sorry if I'm late," he said, stepping the apartment. "I took Pelhan Street instead of Pelhan Avenue," he added, giving a sheepish smile. He inhaled the wonderful sent that came from the table. "Wow, that smells great."
"Better thank Clark for the food." Lois said. The pair moved to the table. Clark pulled a chair out and smiled as Lois took the seat. "Thank you, Smallville."
Ryo looked confused as he took a seat next to Peter. "Smallville?"
"It's an inside joke between those two." Peter said, sitting down.
Clark took his own seat. "I'm from Smallville, Kansas. Like the name, it's a small town." He passed the bowl of salad to Peter, watching the teen serve himself before passing it Ryo. "Metropolis has been my home for a few years now."
"I'm from New York," Peter said. "Just came by to visit some friends and get away from the Big Apple."
Ryo nodded, think that there was more to what Peter was saying, and decided not to ask for details. 'If Shin was here, he probably would have Peter's who life story out of him by the time this dinner would have been over,' he thought. He turned to Lois.
"Metropolis has been my home," Lois said.
Ryo guessed it was his time to speak. "Well, I'm from Yamanashi Providence," he said. "I lived in a log cabin in the mountains until I was about fourteen. I then went to Tokyo, meet my friends, and decided to more to an apartment to finish high school in Tokyo."
Clark looked at Peter and then Lois. There was an awful lot of Is in that statement. "So your family moved to Tokyo then?" he asked.
Ryo shook his head. "Except for Yaku-chan," he said, using the nickname for Byakuen, his white tiger, "and I was almost always on my own. Kaosu-sensei would stop and teach me martial arts, especially using katanas." He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Mom died when I was really young. Dad traveled a lot as a professional wildlife photographer." It didn't bother him, especially now that he had his friends to lean on. "Went to Sengoku University under a soccer scholarship and graduated with a degree in Photography. I then travel as a freelance, photographing human interest stories."
Lois decided to change the subject a bit. "Well, what are your friends like?" she asked, remember the fond light that entered when he said that he had met his friends in Tokyo.
A real smile appeared on Ryo's face, a chuckle passing his lips. "I guess most people would be trying to figure out how a group so different from each other could be such good friends." He went into telling them about each. Seiji Date, cool and calm but became fluster around girls. He was living in Florida with Touma Hashiba, running a Kendo Dojo there. Touma was working for NASA, as an astrophysicist. Shu Rei Fuan was a Geologist but worked at his family's restaurant during breaks from his Geology work. Shin Mouri was a marine biologist.
"Is he on the research ship, Shooting Star?" Clark asked, remembering the young man that had gotten along with the whole group. Even Batman had been relaxed when Mouri was around.
"Yes," Ryo said. "Why did you ask?"
"The Justice League received a distress call from that ship. They had gotten batter by a typhoon," Clark said. "Don't worry, Superman told me that they were fine and except for the engines, the ship didn't have any damage."
"That's good but I'll probably here all about it when I get a chance to talk to him," Ryo said. "It depends on if he can find a place to go online when they dock again."
The rest of dinner went smoothly, with both Lois and Clark suggesting different neighborhoods for him to check about an apartment.
"Thanks for the dinner, Clark." Ryo said, as Clark show him to the door. "I wish I could have stayed longer but I do need to see about finding an apartment, one in my price range."
Peter gathered the plates from the table. "Better take this piece of advice: Get a map," he said. "Trust me, the first time I came to Metropolis, it took me hours to find my way back."
Ryo grinned. "I'll keep that in mind, Peter." He bowed them. "Good night. I'll see you at the Planet later tomorrow."
Once Ryo had left, Clark moved back to the table to get the leftovers. "Polite but he seems to be a bit on the quiet side."
"I don't know," Lois said. "He seems close to his friends but he never really explain how they meet." She got the glasses and follow after Clark. She handed them to Peter. "What did he mean by that line about them being so different that most people wouldn't think they were friends?"
"It doesn't seem that strange," Peter said, placing the dishes in the dishwasher. "Harry and me...well, we were from different sides of the tracks and we ended up being best friends."
"Lets give him some time," Clark said. "Once he is sure about us, I'm sure he will tell us more about himself."
----------
Ryo stepped into the hotel room, sitting the sack next to the door. He moved over to the balcony, smiling as Byakuen moved from the shadows of a fern plant.
"So what do you think of Metropolis, Byakuen?" he asked. The brown eyes blinked up at his new human. "I take that as a 'no'. I promise, I'll take us both out to the country," he said. "Now, I have dinner for you. The best roast that a poor photographer can buy for one of his best friends."
The white tiger followed after him, purring as Ryo open the brown paper wrapped around a roast. With great care, the tiger took the roast off, jumping into the bathtub so that he could eat without worrying about leaving a bloody mess.
Ryo open the laptop on the desk, making sure that the camera and satellite link was working. "Good, Seiji is on," he said, IM-ing his friend. "Hey, Seiji," he said, after a window open up on the screen. It revealed a twenty-five year old blond Japanese teen. "How are you and Touma?"
Seiji, a lock of blonde hair covering his right eye, smiled. "We're find, Ryo. Touma is working late at the Cape and I'm just going over some financial statements for the dojo," he said. "What about you?" he asked in return. "It's been a few months since we used the video link to talk to you."
"Yeah," Ryo said, "but I used the armor link two days ago to speak with Shu. Did you know that he is in China right now."
"He must be helping with the new Jade mine." Seiji said, seeing Ryo nodded. "What about Shin?"
"Still on the Shooting Star. The ship was caught in a typhoon but the Justice League pulled the ship out," Ryo told him. Seeing the worry in the lavender-gray eye that was visible, he smiled. "No damage, except maybe the engines."
"How did you find this out?" Seiji asked. Shin hadn't contacted them through the link, so the oldest of their group must not have been too worried.
"I was told this by Clark Kent." He smiled as the eye widen at his statement. "I'm back in America. Metropolis to be exact." He placed both his hands behind his head. "You're looking at the Daily Planet's newest photographer."
"That's great," Seiji said, matching the smile that was on Ryo's face. "So how long are you going to be in the states?"
"Probably about a year. Might stay longer if they still need me," Ryo said. "I'm going to start looking for an apartment tomorrow." He stretched his arms above his head. "Think you and the others can come in for an apartment warming party, if I'm lucky enough to find one."
"You think we would stay away from a chance to get together?" Seiji raised his visible eyebrow. "I'll let Touma know about it."
"I'll send e-mails to Shu and Shin about the party. Once that's done, I'm going to get a few hours sleep."
"Let us know when and where to meet. Take care and be careful, Rekka no Ryo."
Ryo gave a soft smile. "And you as well, Korin no Seiji."
The video call ended and Ryo open his e-mail program. He type up a brief e-mail to both Shu and Shin letting them know that he would be in Metropolis for about a year. He also wanted them to come for an apartment warming party. Once those were sent off, he shut down the laptop, and then went to draw the curtains closed. He took a pair of shorts to change into after his shower.
"I'll be right out, Byakuen," he said as he stepped into the bathroom. He watch the tiger lick the last of the blood from his claws before hopping out of the tub/shower. One hot shower later, he step back into the room, and shook his head as he saw Byakuen already asleep on the floor. He took the blanket from the bed and settle down on the floor. He rested his head on Byakuen's stomach.
"Night, Yaku-chan," he whispered, settling into sleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next in Part 3:
Ryo goes apartment hunting. Then Peter is with Clark and Lois to cover a Wayne Enterprise charity event that evening. Will a bomb cause the new hero to make his appearance?
Those that want more information on the Samurai Troopers and the other main characters in the series, there are two great sites to check out.
Theria's YST page (delete the spaces in the URL www. theria. net/ yst/index.html) has character bios, summaries on the first eight episodes of the tv series. Also summaries have been done for the OAVs. The first volume of message as links for the Troopers new Yoroi/armor. It also has a fairly good image gallery too.
Nina's YST FAQs page (members3. boardhost. com/ ninayst/) has complete bios on all the Troopers, the Mashos, Kayura, Nasuti, and Jun. It also has translations for some of the drama CDs that were done during the series.
Agent G: glomps Thank you, thank you for your permission to write in your Justice League: The Spider storyline. Now about the Cecil Morris. Actually, I just needed someone to fly Peter back to Metropolis so I made him up. That's the only time that he will be mention in this story. As for the time, it's set a year after he arrived in your story. I'll probably have it that he was on break between semesters.
Thietje: Glad you like it. Hope this second chapter is as good as the first.
Jezrianna: Ah, Slash/Yaoi. It's a writing term for a Homosexual pairing between two of the characters. In this case it will be between Touma Hashiba and Seiji Date. Nothing graphic will be shown in this story. The only thing you will be seeing is hand holding between the two and a kiss, much later in the story. As for the grammar and spell check, I don't catch all of them. I do have a beta for my Yugioh story but I don't know if she would be willing to check this one. I do have one other that betas my RPG posts but I'm not sure she will be willing to do it. She does have a life, unlike me. grins sheepishly
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Of Justice and Samurai Honor Author: Star Lin
Part 2
Peter frowned at the small bit of information that Lois had found. "This was the only thing?" he asked, looking at the strange cloud formation. The clouds looked as if they were in the shape of samurai armors and were reenacting a battle of some sort. "What do you think, Clark?"
The two turned to Clark, watching him pull his glasses down and stare intently at the picture. "I believe it is real. I can't see any tampering with it," he told them. "Can you find out when and where this was taken at, Lois?"
"It was taken over the Japanese Government building about eight years ago." Lois said. "It was an emergency meeting..." She did another search, a frowned forming on her lips. "But I can't find the details on the meeting."
"Probably what to do about clouds putting on a play," said Peter. "I'll see what I can do about getting the minutes for that meeting." He grinned at both Lois and Clark. "Don't worry, I'll cover my tracks."
Lois looked over at Clark. "Well, this may not be related to what Jimmy caught on film," she said, tapping the screen. "Do we even know if this person could be a danger to the city or not?"
"We might have to wait to see if he shows up again," Clark said. "We can start this up again after the dinner with Ryo." Lois nodded in agreement, saving the information she had founded, and stood up. "Coming, Peter?"
"I'll stay here for a couple of hours, in case they need a photographer," Peter told them. "I'll be back at six."
----------
Ryo had been sent to with the sports reporter to cover the soccer tryouts. He had been able to get some pretty good shots of the players. Since he had play soccer during high school and college, he had spotted some of the brighter talents during the tryouts. Now back in the newsroom, he searched out Jimmy.
"Jimmy, would it be alright if I develop these here. I can't set up a dark room until I get an apartment." He looked around, not seeing Peter, Clark, or Lois in the newsroom. "Where are Kent and the others?"
"Clark and Lois left about an hour ago." Jimmy said, watching the TV screen that was up in the newsroom. "Dang, why I have to get laid up? Peter is going to get some great shots of Superman and Spider-Man."
Ryo turned his attention to the TV, also noticing that some of the other reporters had done the same. On the screen was the familiar blue and red of Superman. He had seen some of the pictures of the space alien and had been surprise at how human he looked. It looked like there was an armor car being held up or it was. Superman had three of the robbers by their collars. The other two were caught up in what look like some sort of web-like substance. A person in a red and blue costume with a large black spider on the back was sitting on the wall.
"I've seen pictures of Superman while I travel a little but who is the guy in the spider costume?" Ryo asked.
"Ah, that's Spider-Man," Jimmy said. "He showed up about a year ago. I think he's making his home in New York now, except for when he's working with the Justice League."
"Wow." Ryo whispered. 'At least America won't be boring,' he thought. 'Hope Touma is online tonight. He might find this interesting.' He looked over to Jimmy. "Does this kind of thing happen often?"
"Not usually," Jimmy said. "Looks like Superman and Spider-Man have it wrapped up." Jimmy stood up, grimacing slightly as his broken arm shifted in the sling. "I'll take you to the dark room."
"How's your arm and the other reporter doing?" Ryo asked, looking down at the broken arm and then up at the bandage cheek.
Jimmy blinked at the question. "Boy, you got the office gossip fast." He pointed at the cast. "This will be gone, I hope, in six weeks. Ralph will be back by the end of this week. But I'm going to send him into next week for almost getting us killed." Jimmy then went on to tell Ryo about what happen to him and Ralph. "We should have been crushed but it look like the wall was slice in half. Ralph has more burns along the back of his arms but they were first degree. My arm got broken after one section broke off and hit it when I tried to block it from hitting my face. The ER doctor kept me overnight."
"...I'm sorry," Ryo said.
"Why should you be sorry?" Jimmy asked. "Even if you had been right there, you probably would have gotten hurt as well." He stopped in front of a door. The light above the door was off so that meant no one was using it. Still, he knocked on the door, waiting to see if someone might have been in there. "OK, go through this door, and make sure it's shut before opening the second door."
Ryo nodded and watch Jimmy walk away, blue eyes taking on a sad light. 'I am sorry, Jimmy. If I had cut that wall a different way then neither you nor Ralph would have been hurt.' He slipped into the dark room, planning to get the pictures done before he was supposed to be at Kent's apartment.
----------
Peter finished setting up the silverware as Lois place the salad down in the center of the table. "There, I think this should do it," he said. "Hope Ryo doesn't mind dinner being a little late."
"I'm just glad that it was a simple armor car robbery instead of a super-villain." Lois said, giving a smile to Clark, as he added the finishing touches to the stew. She saw Clark tilted his head. "What is it?"
"Ryo is on his way up," Clark said. He poured the stew into a serving bowl. "Peter, set this on the table while I clean up in here."
While Peter took the stew to the table, Clark used his super speed to clean up the pot and pan he had used to fix his mother's beef stew recipe in.
The doorbell rang. "I got it, Clark," Lois said, moving to the door. She opened the door just as Clark came out of the kitchen area with a pitcher of tea. She gave a smile to Ryo. "Hello, Ryo. Come in. You didn't have any trouble finding the apartment?"
Ryo stood in the doorway, slightly nervous as he looked over the inside of Clark's apartment. He was dress in a pair of clean, if faded, blue jeans, with a button up red shirt. He ran his hand through his black hair. "I'm sorry if I'm late," he said, stepping the apartment. "I took Pelhan Street instead of Pelhan Avenue," he added, giving a sheepish smile. He inhaled the wonderful sent that came from the table. "Wow, that smells great."
"Better thank Clark for the food." Lois said. The pair moved to the table. Clark pulled a chair out and smiled as Lois took the seat. "Thank you, Smallville."
Ryo looked confused as he took a seat next to Peter. "Smallville?"
"It's an inside joke between those two." Peter said, sitting down.
Clark took his own seat. "I'm from Smallville, Kansas. Like the name, it's a small town." He passed the bowl of salad to Peter, watching the teen serve himself before passing it Ryo. "Metropolis has been my home for a few years now."
"I'm from New York," Peter said. "Just came by to visit some friends and get away from the Big Apple."
Ryo nodded, think that there was more to what Peter was saying, and decided not to ask for details. 'If Shin was here, he probably would have Peter's who life story out of him by the time this dinner would have been over,' he thought. He turned to Lois.
"Metropolis has been my home," Lois said.
Ryo guessed it was his time to speak. "Well, I'm from Yamanashi Providence," he said. "I lived in a log cabin in the mountains until I was about fourteen. I then went to Tokyo, meet my friends, and decided to more to an apartment to finish high school in Tokyo."
Clark looked at Peter and then Lois. There was an awful lot of Is in that statement. "So your family moved to Tokyo then?" he asked.
Ryo shook his head. "Except for Yaku-chan," he said, using the nickname for Byakuen, his white tiger, "and I was almost always on my own. Kaosu-sensei would stop and teach me martial arts, especially using katanas." He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Mom died when I was really young. Dad traveled a lot as a professional wildlife photographer." It didn't bother him, especially now that he had his friends to lean on. "Went to Sengoku University under a soccer scholarship and graduated with a degree in Photography. I then travel as a freelance, photographing human interest stories."
Lois decided to change the subject a bit. "Well, what are your friends like?" she asked, remember the fond light that entered when he said that he had met his friends in Tokyo.
A real smile appeared on Ryo's face, a chuckle passing his lips. "I guess most people would be trying to figure out how a group so different from each other could be such good friends." He went into telling them about each. Seiji Date, cool and calm but became fluster around girls. He was living in Florida with Touma Hashiba, running a Kendo Dojo there. Touma was working for NASA, as an astrophysicist. Shu Rei Fuan was a Geologist but worked at his family's restaurant during breaks from his Geology work. Shin Mouri was a marine biologist.
"Is he on the research ship, Shooting Star?" Clark asked, remembering the young man that had gotten along with the whole group. Even Batman had been relaxed when Mouri was around.
"Yes," Ryo said. "Why did you ask?"
"The Justice League received a distress call from that ship. They had gotten batter by a typhoon," Clark said. "Don't worry, Superman told me that they were fine and except for the engines, the ship didn't have any damage."
"That's good but I'll probably here all about it when I get a chance to talk to him," Ryo said. "It depends on if he can find a place to go online when they dock again."
The rest of dinner went smoothly, with both Lois and Clark suggesting different neighborhoods for him to check about an apartment.
"Thanks for the dinner, Clark." Ryo said, as Clark show him to the door. "I wish I could have stayed longer but I do need to see about finding an apartment, one in my price range."
Peter gathered the plates from the table. "Better take this piece of advice: Get a map," he said. "Trust me, the first time I came to Metropolis, it took me hours to find my way back."
Ryo grinned. "I'll keep that in mind, Peter." He bowed them. "Good night. I'll see you at the Planet later tomorrow."
Once Ryo had left, Clark moved back to the table to get the leftovers. "Polite but he seems to be a bit on the quiet side."
"I don't know," Lois said. "He seems close to his friends but he never really explain how they meet." She got the glasses and follow after Clark. She handed them to Peter. "What did he mean by that line about them being so different that most people wouldn't think they were friends?"
"It doesn't seem that strange," Peter said, placing the dishes in the dishwasher. "Harry and me...well, we were from different sides of the tracks and we ended up being best friends."
"Lets give him some time," Clark said. "Once he is sure about us, I'm sure he will tell us more about himself."
----------
Ryo stepped into the hotel room, sitting the sack next to the door. He moved over to the balcony, smiling as Byakuen moved from the shadows of a fern plant.
"So what do you think of Metropolis, Byakuen?" he asked. The brown eyes blinked up at his new human. "I take that as a 'no'. I promise, I'll take us both out to the country," he said. "Now, I have dinner for you. The best roast that a poor photographer can buy for one of his best friends."
The white tiger followed after him, purring as Ryo open the brown paper wrapped around a roast. With great care, the tiger took the roast off, jumping into the bathtub so that he could eat without worrying about leaving a bloody mess.
Ryo open the laptop on the desk, making sure that the camera and satellite link was working. "Good, Seiji is on," he said, IM-ing his friend. "Hey, Seiji," he said, after a window open up on the screen. It revealed a twenty-five year old blond Japanese teen. "How are you and Touma?"
Seiji, a lock of blonde hair covering his right eye, smiled. "We're find, Ryo. Touma is working late at the Cape and I'm just going over some financial statements for the dojo," he said. "What about you?" he asked in return. "It's been a few months since we used the video link to talk to you."
"Yeah," Ryo said, "but I used the armor link two days ago to speak with Shu. Did you know that he is in China right now."
"He must be helping with the new Jade mine." Seiji said, seeing Ryo nodded. "What about Shin?"
"Still on the Shooting Star. The ship was caught in a typhoon but the Justice League pulled the ship out," Ryo told him. Seeing the worry in the lavender-gray eye that was visible, he smiled. "No damage, except maybe the engines."
"How did you find this out?" Seiji asked. Shin hadn't contacted them through the link, so the oldest of their group must not have been too worried.
"I was told this by Clark Kent." He smiled as the eye widen at his statement. "I'm back in America. Metropolis to be exact." He placed both his hands behind his head. "You're looking at the Daily Planet's newest photographer."
"That's great," Seiji said, matching the smile that was on Ryo's face. "So how long are you going to be in the states?"
"Probably about a year. Might stay longer if they still need me," Ryo said. "I'm going to start looking for an apartment tomorrow." He stretched his arms above his head. "Think you and the others can come in for an apartment warming party, if I'm lucky enough to find one."
"You think we would stay away from a chance to get together?" Seiji raised his visible eyebrow. "I'll let Touma know about it."
"I'll send e-mails to Shu and Shin about the party. Once that's done, I'm going to get a few hours sleep."
"Let us know when and where to meet. Take care and be careful, Rekka no Ryo."
Ryo gave a soft smile. "And you as well, Korin no Seiji."
The video call ended and Ryo open his e-mail program. He type up a brief e-mail to both Shu and Shin letting them know that he would be in Metropolis for about a year. He also wanted them to come for an apartment warming party. Once those were sent off, he shut down the laptop, and then went to draw the curtains closed. He took a pair of shorts to change into after his shower.
"I'll be right out, Byakuen," he said as he stepped into the bathroom. He watch the tiger lick the last of the blood from his claws before hopping out of the tub/shower. One hot shower later, he step back into the room, and shook his head as he saw Byakuen already asleep on the floor. He took the blanket from the bed and settle down on the floor. He rested his head on Byakuen's stomach.
"Night, Yaku-chan," he whispered, settling into sleep.
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Next in Part 3:
Ryo goes apartment hunting. Then Peter is with Clark and Lois to cover a Wayne Enterprise charity event that evening. Will a bomb cause the new hero to make his appearance?