(Disclaimer: I do not own YST nor RW, they are owned by Sunrise. Neither do I own the characters of the original series.)
(Author's Notes: Please, DON'T BLAME ME if some of the details are insufficient, since I had never seen the entire series before. I'm just fascinated over the series, that's why. Some of the characters added are of my own and not related to other anime, in short, ORIGINAL. So please, enjoy reading and review it! This is my first taste of writing fanfiction, and I'm not too good at English, so please BEAR WITH ME...)
SAMURAI PHANTOM REKKA: CHAPTER ONE
Episode Ten: THE CHOSEN ONE
Upon the taxi's arrival at Ryo's house, he thought that the best way to forget everything from last year is to SLEEP the whole day and try to take his problem as an illness. Yes, he will try although he didn't feel sleepy at all. But although how many times he try to forget about it, the whole picture still STUCKED on his poor mind. Worse, for him, when he accidentally remembered Luna and her kindness towards him. His face turned red again! Thinking that he was already falling for her, he vigorously shook his head (though it just caused another pain in his head) and tried to convince himself that IT IS NOT YET TIME TO FALL IN LOVE FOR SOMEONE. He is still so young, he even thought.
The taxi then left him alone standing on the gateway. As he opened the gate, Ryo's tiger-blue eyes turned with surprise, and happiness, as he saw...
"Hey, Kitty!" the cat that he helped yesterday came back, "It's you!" the cat leaped unto his arms and purred with delight to see him, "What brings you here, eh?" as he closed the gate while holding the cat, as he stroke its peculiar striped fur once more, the feline purred with contentment as if he doesn't want to get away from Ryo's arms anymore.
In the kitchen, he prepared the cat's welcoming meal with bigger spare fish and more milk. "Hope that'll be enough for you now, man..." he said with a faint smile as he sat on a steel chair while watching the cat eat with loving eyes, "Um, sorry to disturb you for a while but... why are ya here, anyway? Anythin' wrong? Does your master had neglected ya already?"
Hearing that, the cat stopped eating and purred sadly.
"H-he-hey..." Ryo thought that it was his fault, "I... I'm sorry... if I say somethin'... but I'm just..."
The cat looked at him with lovely sad brown eyes and went near him. It jumped onto his arms again. Ryo thought that the cat just wanted someone to stroke his back again and again, as if it had missed his mater who was stroking him before, but it is more than that. More than Ryo expected... that will add up to the list of his most peculiar memories...
"Ryo Sanada..." the cat actually TALKED! "...I need your help..."
Ryo's jaws dropped in disbelief!
The cat continued, "I need your help..."
He turned pale and felt that he already wanted to freak out and scream out of the house as he heard in his own ears and saw in his own eyes: THE CAT ACTUALLY TALKED! So shocked that his whole body trembled with so much exposure from mysterious incidents happened to him since last year. No, no, it is not the cat's thoughts. It really happened. He even tried to pinch his face to see if this is really a dream or just his overwhelming thoughts again. But hell, no, he was even hurt at his strongest pitch he made in himself, causing his face turned swollen red. He turned speechless. His brain will explode with too much hallucination! And he cannot say to himself why and how!
No wonder, the cat is very STRANGE--inside and out.
The strange feline continued to walk towards him but Ryo stood up and tried to avoid him by walking backwards. For that he accidentally bumped into the chair and he fell down! He cannot stand up already with fear that the cat might have been possessed or something and came to him to be 'punished'. "What...what...what do you..." he couldn't almost talk straight with his trembling lips, "Wha...what... Please! Don't hurt me! I'll do anythin' just don't..."
"Please, Ryo! I NEED YOUR HELP!"
"HEEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
His voice was heard in the whole neighborhood but only dogs and birds responded. An old woman in a nearby house noticed her St. Bernard barking without seeing anything. "Did you hear anything, sweetie?" she asked.
No one in the neighborhood even heard his cry...
-----
It has been thirty minutes since the horrifying incident, and Ryo was lying in his folding bed unconscious (so shocked that he collapsed!). The cat, then, was sitting beside him, waiting for him to wake up. Finally, after minutes of dozing off, his eyes were starting to open slowly.
"Oh..." he groaned, "...Wh...wha...what happened...?"
He slowly got up and held his swollen head; he felt that it will be about to explode. He looked around with his half-opened eyes. Nothing strange. He sighed deeply and thanked himself that everything happened a while ago is just a WILD dream. He even prayed that it really was.
But I'm afraid that his exhausted brain will explode sooner the moment that he accidentally set his eyes on the root of his migraine.
"I'm glad that you're ok..." it went worse.
Ryo jumped off from his bed in surprise. "GACK! A GHOST!!!" he quickly pulled his blanket and wrapped himself completely for protection. He was trembling on one corner like a child afraid of ghosts or monsters. He even prayed to all the gods in the universe in whisper just to be away from the cursed cat. The cat, meanwhile, just went blank.
It just sighed on the raven boy's behavior. "Please forgive me..." his boylike voice uttered with shame, "...if I cause you trouble. You see..."
Ryo then immediately came out from hiding, fell unto his knees and bowed with great humility that he almost kissed his bed! "Oh, great ancestor!" he thought that the cat was really possessed by his ancestor or something, "Forgive me for my misbehavior for the past few years! Forgive me for not believin' in ninjas or samurais or whatever! I'll do anythin', just PLEASE SPARE MY LIFE!!!"
The cat was just emotionless. "Well..." he answered, "I'm not... really your ancestor or whatever... It's just..."
Upon hearing the cat's explanation, Ryo resumed himself by sitting with a stared look, "If you're not my ancestor..." and his voice resumed to a trembling one again, "then WHO are you?"
"Well, it's a long story," and he sighed again. "Sorry for causing you trouble, but ever since you helped me and fed me, I already had the ability to talk..."
Ryo stared closely at the cat, "Then WHY you didn't tell me in the first place?"
"Well, logically, I don't want to scare you, that's all..."
With a suspecting face, "You said that you need me. Now what do you want?"
"Well..." and the cat stood up, "Let me introduce myself first. My name is Byakkouen, sworn guardian and ally to the most powerful warrior ever lived in Japan, the Legendary Samurai, Kaos."
Ryo's face went blank.
"I was sent here in the name of Kaos' spirit to find the nine diffused powers he released from Arago's armor to guide whoever receives them. I was looking for them for almost a year now... and it was only today when they reacted since the Dynasty is already planning to conquer the world once more..."
"Arago?"
"He is the leader of the Evil Dynasty. A samurai-sorcerer who wanted all in this world to be in his possession. He has once had a very big army but all of them were defeated by Kaos alone... and that was 400 years ago..."
But instead of being surprised or amazed by Byakkouen's story, Ryo's face is still BLANK. His only reaction? "Wow... talk about tall tales..."
"If that's a tall tale, how would you explain a TALKING CAT like me, eh???"
He gulped. "But... isn't that way too 'UNREALISTIC'?"
The cat just sighed. "Then can you guess why I'm here in front of you begging for your help?"
"Whoe, I didn't realized that... What's your point, anyway?"
"Now this is serious..." then taking a deep breath ready to announce something to Ryo that will bring a shock of his life, "Ryo Sanada... you are being chosen by one of the diffused powers to be its new master. In short... you are a SAMURAI PHANTOM!"
And at last, Ryo's once emotionless face turned into amazement and at the same time... disbelief.
"You're... kiddin' me..."
"If I'm kidding you, then how would you explain a..."
"A TALKING CAT like you asking for help of a human? Yeah, right!"
"Good! You understand it already..."
"I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND EVEN A SINGLE LETTER YOU SAY!!!"
"That's because you don't want to listen, that's all!"
"GACK!"
Realizing that he was just defeated by their debate, he just sighed heavily and lied on his bed.
"And by the way..." Byakkouen continued, "Don't try to convince yourself that everything here is a dream. It's the truth and you must face it! Because if you still don't get it, then how would you explain what happened to you last year?"
"What do you mean...?'
"Ever since last year you have already possessed an incredible mental ability because of the samurai power possessed in you: You could actually read people's minds and hearts even at 200 kilometers away..."
Upon hearing the cat's guess, Ryo suddenly got up with surprise, "How did you..."
"I have an ability to sense a samurai power and for that I can also sense one's mental ability by his power. Now, can you still explain that?"
Ryo went silent, staring at the cat.
He thought at himself: the cat was right. Everything that was happening to him since last year is absolutely TRUE. No visual effects. No daydreaming. Everything has just happened.. And for him, it will going to get WORSE.
(To Episode Eleven! Please R&R! Thanks!)