(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

Epilogue: IT'S NOT A DREAM!

Phantom Rekka was still feeling pain in his body after his dreaded first encounter, "Man... I'm sure I'll be wakin' up in the hospital if this turn worse..."

But there is no need for him to go to the hospital seriously. He felt that someone is licking some of his wounds (yuck!) in his arms and noticed that it was Byakkouen's doing. Puzzled (and ill-stricken) by what he was doing, he felt that the pain starts to subside a bit. He then realized that, upon seeing his open wounds starting to close slowly, he was healing him.

"Um... Kitty" he tried to talk to him while doing his job, "Sorry to say this, but... What you're doin' is NOT sanitizin' at all..."

"Just shut up and let me do this," he snorted and he continued along.

For this, Rekka decided to keep quiet while the cat is healing him, and, at the same time, scolding him, "You're really an airhead!" Byakkouen still managed to scold him for his careless decision, "What you just did is actually an act of FOOLISHNESS!"

"And what's wrong with that?"

"What's WRONG? You almost lost your life because of what you did! For that I almost wate my tears on you..."

"Man..." he turned a little surprised on what the cat just said to him, "I dunno that cats do ACTUALLY cry..."

"There's no room for your jokes at this moment, Ryo!" his vioce gradually turned into a sober.

"'Kay, fine! I'm sorry! I'll just shut up..."

And the cat continued to heal him, "You should be thankful that I have this ability though it has its limitation--it will just NOT actually heal you but I'm jus stopping the blood to clot..."

"Heh, ya sure are that powerful, aren't ya, Kitty?"

By then, Byakkouen stopped licking his wounds.

Rekka wondered. "Byakkouen? Kitty? Anythin' wrong?"

The cat began to sniff its own tears.

Rekka became worried. "Kitty?" he didn't respond, "Kitty, ya ok, man?" he picked up Byakkouen. To his surprise, he saw him--in tears.

So what he just said turned TRUE, after all.

"K-Kitty?" he wondered, "W-what..."

The cat continued to cry, "Among them... only Toshitada... calls me Kitty... He always teases me... It's not very usual... for a priest like him..."

Upon hearing his testimonial, Rekka suddenly became silent.

He then realized the reason why Byakkouen knows Shuten Doji very much. That Shuten Doji was once an ordinary priest working for Kaos. Ashamed of what he did, he lowered his head, and, "I... I'm sorry, Kit--ah, I mean, Byakkouen... I... I dunno 'bout that... Crap! I..."

The cat jus purred unto him. "It's ok... I know you didn't mean it in the first place... Besides, when you call me Kitty for the first time after you saved me... I thought once that you're Toshitada... or being possessed by Toshitada's spirit, that's why I became fond of you aside from being the first receiver of the diffussion Rekka... Funny, isn't it?"

But it seems that it was the first time that Rekka didn't laughed. His facewas still with guilt. "Crap... Me an' my BIG mouth! I shouldn't hafta..."

But Byakkouen hushed him by licking his cheek.

"Listen," Byakkouen's sad face suddenly turned into a serious one, "Because we have successfully completed our mission tonight, starting Thursday we will start with your training..."

"WHAT??? TRAININ'??????"

"Hey... I didn't say tomorrow already..."

"I know that! But... do I really hafta...?"

"Yes. Since you don't have enough skills yat to manipulate your powers, you must improve your ninja skills, at least you can use that during nighttime missions..."

"Hey, I exercise ev'ry mornin' and I don't remember that I miss one mornin' without exercisin'!"

"It's not yet enough! In this training you will use your ACTUAL subpowers in order for you to explore yourself in it!"

"And WHAT IF someone might see me doin' that???"

"Well... It's YOUR problem!"

"WHAT???"

But due to so much surprise, Rekka felt his body turning heavier, he slumped down!

"Ouch..." he uttered.

"But first, you have to rest for a full day since you have been dumped too much by the oni! You have no choice but to be ABSENT from school!"

"And now you don't want me to go to school??? You're sooooo cruel! We have a test in English tomorrow! That'll be my only chance to pass in that darn subject!"

"What do you want: go to school OR to be paralyzed FOREVER?"

For that, he just smooched his face in the floor. "Yeah, sure..."

Later the town clock started to ring its bell, DING-DONG-DING-DONG.... A sign that it's already one in the morning.

Rekka tried to stand up with Byakkouen in his hand. "Wow... I can't believe it's been a hour ago, that's fast... Okay, Kitty, time to go home..."

"DON'T CALL ME KIT--" Rekka immediately covered the cat's mouth.

"Shut up yer mouth, will ya?" he scolded with a soft voice, "Ya might wake them up!" pointing to the four unconscious men, "That'll be hard for us!"

Both left the quiet museum, leaving the four men as if nothing happened in the past few weeks. Just then, the guard on-duty came with a flashlight and to his surprise, he saw the four controversial museum personnel lying on the floor unconcious. Above them is the celebrated painting which its spell has been finally broken by an unknown magical guardian at night and his cat companion. When he noticed the painting, to his surpise that there were no faces in the river anymore, jus a plain, serene riverwhere the beautiful maiden had just bathed. Seeing the four men on the floor, he pondered deeply if the painting surely has a deep connection between it and the men. He turned around, but everything is seemed to be normal now. Even the window which the two had entered into a while ago is tightly shut.

-----

Thursday afternoon.

It has been two days after Ryo's first mission. He clearly remembered what happened, although he doesn't want to remember it anymore for it will make his headache worse. After that mission, he immediately turned back into his normal self as soon as he had reached home, as Byakkouen taught him to do so. And that he immediatelyplunged into bed without taking a night bath nor changing his sleeping clothes. His snores just proved that he's so tired and exhausted for his first successful mission. But Byakkouen, the cat, cannot sleep after that incident, despite that he wanted to sleep as soundly as his new master. Still he was thinking at that time about Toshitada, now known as Shuten Doji, master of the diffussion Oni or Cruelty, bestowed by the Bushido kanji of Chu, loyalty. He was also thinking about the mysterious young warrior that whom he was not so sure whether he is a friend or a foe. He is, also, a Dynasty enemy whose mission is to get all the onis, if he's not mistaken. But what confuses him is that the mysterious boy attempted to attack Ryo at that time. He cannot get the point at that moment, so he decided to put it to sleep, though he's not yet sleepy at all.

And the following day, though unnoticed (or maybe not), Ryo didn't go to school because of bodyache he attained from his first mission. He almost got a fever because of exhaustion! He slept the whole day (almost) eating a little. Unfortunately, as he expected, he didn't attend his English test which must be his salvation to his failing grade on that subject. The next day he did go to school, and lucky for him Luna gave him the lecture from yesterday. To his surprise when she told him that the test was postponed since the teacher's alibi is because the questionshe madefor the test were been misplaced and he had no choice but to rewrite it all over again. The whole class rejoiced for that (and made Ryo more pissed off!) but a formal discussion was held instead. His friends asked him a lot like how was he, is he already fine, why is it that he's absent for two days now, etc, etc, etc. But all he could answer was "Well, man... I'm ok, nothin' to worry..." thinking that he cannot bare everything to them anymore or they might know that he is working as a phantom not to steal anything, but to retrieve the onisto their respective place. In short, from now on he must keep his identity in secret, so as to his mental ability, or the whole world will keep an eye on him. You know what I mean

And that Thursday afternoon will make Ryo suffer more. The whole morning, he thought, will be normal. But back in the house, an adorable white little striped cat is waiting for him, but not to greet him "Welcome Home!". Instead...

"You ARE late for almost an hour now!" Byakkouen growled.

"H-hey..." Ryo with a puzzled look, "Ya mean you've waited here for hours? What's it this time? Another oni or somethin'? Fine, I've somethin' to chow on..." and he took two pieces of rice cakes from his bag, "Here, help yerself..."

"It's not the food I've been waiting!"

Taking one from the plastic bag, "Then whatta ya waitin' for?"

"YOU, of course!"

"What for?"

"Darn it... Don't you remember??? You suppose to have a training TODAY!"

He went more emotionless. "Trainin'...? For what???"

"DON'T TELL ME YOU HAVE ALREADY FORGOTTEN! YOU ARE ALREADY A SAMURAI PHANTOM, RYO! A SAMURAI PHANTOM, HEAR THAT???"

"HEY, KITTY, YA DON'T HAFTA SHOUT AT ME LIKE THAT! I'M NOT THAT DEAF!!!"

"I'm just reminding you, that's all..."

"Reminding me what?"

"That THIS IS NOT A DREAM, silly! It's the reality of life and you have to accept it!"

"Heh..." and he plunged into the couch, "I know that, Kitty! Ya don't hafta remind me that ev'rythin' that's happenin' since yesterday is not a dream at all! I even pinced myself this mornin'!"

"Good that you have realized already!"

"So?"

The cat grumbled with impatience, "So WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? Christmas Day??? It's still September, you know??? Come on, move out! Or I'll eat your dinner!"

He stood up immediately, "That's unfair! I didn't have lunch yet!"

"Well, it's YOUR problem, not mine! So move out!"

"Damn..." he grumbled, "Yes, sir..."

"And do it FAST!"

"Alright!!!"

And the training of Ryo Sanada as the appointed Phantom of Wildfire has begun.

So that was it: The mystery of Tsukabashi Kohei's last masterpiece, "The Goddess of the River", has been successfully sealed. And Ryo and Byakkouen have managed to capture the first oni--The Oni of Art. There are still 99 onis on the loose, waiting for their turn to be awakened and to cause a lot of trouble to people. The Evil Dynasty, under the leadership of Kayura, is also trying their guts to retrieve all of them to awake Arago again, and they will do anything for it.

But a mystery has marked Ryo's consciousness: Who is that mysterious being who helped them and at the same time attempted to attack them? The one with a golden bow and a quiver of energy arrows as its weapon against the forces of the Evil Dynasty? Was he also a retriever? To which side is he working to? What does Byakkouen exactly mean that there is a diffusion on the said being? And what does Shuten Doji meanthat he 'betrayed' them?It is clear that he is, like Ryo, a Samurai Phantom. But there is also a possibility that he can be a Masho Phantom like Shuten Doji. But the big question is: Who is this young archer?

Right now Ryo and Byakkouen are preparing for the next mission to come, onwhich oni will attack next and where it will take place. And today, Ryo will undergo intense training with thediffusion of Rekka given to him unanimously.Though hard, he have to, for it is the duty of a Samurai Phantom to seal the onis before Arago's revival. Not just him, as Byakkouen said, for there are six morediffusions to be discovered, and, hopefully, they can make them as their allies. They hope that the still-to-be-discovered diffusions will not be likeShuten Doji, who had been allied, unexpectedly, with evil. The cat believed that everything will end well so soon and everything will be back to normal. The mysteries and the battle against evil--all of these, is just yet to beginning of Ryo's new life and identity as the Mystic Retriever of the Night...

...Samurai Phantom Rekka.

to be continued

-----

Next Chapter: HANA JUNIOR HIGH'S INVISIBLE THIEF

Hana Junior High is in trouble! And one of Ryo's classmates is being suspected in stealing the personal properties of the students--and even teachers! Byakkouen, obviously, suspected that an oni is behind this. But what is its purpose? Will the mysterious Blue Archer appear again? Is the oni Ryo's classmate himself?

(CONSUMMATUM EST (It Is Done)! Hah-hah... Anyway, this is it! First chapter complete! By the way, acknowlegement is givento Theria's Yoroiden Temple, , and Neither Realm for some information I got to make this possible. To my reviewers, SALAMAT PO NG MARAMI for your support and understanding. And for those who still didn't read it, YOU'RE STILL WELCOME! Reviews are still welcome! Please continue to R&R my FIRST-EVER FANFIC I'VE WRITTEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! Duck! THANKS A LOT! MWAAAHHH!!!)