Ronins Interrupted
By: Ghost of the Dawn
Chapter Three: Trapped in Tokyo
The City of Tokyo was trapped in a relentless blanket of fog. It seemed to fill every street and alleyway, reaching up to almost the very tops of the skyscrapers as they fought to stay above it. But floating above that, undetected by any eye or radar was a cloud. An unnaturally black cloud that never moved from its spot above the city. Nor was it seen, for its creator had rendered it invisible by supernatural powers.
Inside the cloud, it seemed quite solid and was composed of a space fashioned somewhat like a dark throne room. Perched on a high throne so black it seemed almost invisible in the dark; was a figure concealed by the shadows. The dark figure glowered with dead eyes from her seat as she stared across the way into a large, black crystal which jutted up sharply from the floor. The crystal revealed to her a picture of the city below.
As she watched, the figure scratched her long nails on the arm rest. The one they were seeking was there, she could feel it. Now all that was left to do was to locate the victim and condition that individual to fit into her plan. Ironic as it was, it only took one mere mortal to give her the power she needed to destroy this world. It wouldn't be long now.
In a small, single hotel room, five young men piled onto the bed and in the chairs
near by as they watched the weather forecast on tv.
"...Tokyo seems to have been plagued with a dense fog thicker and more dangerous
than any recorded in the city's history. All citizens are encouraged to stay in doors and to
not do any driving until the fog has cleared. In other news...."
"Well, it looks like we're all stuck here for a while," Cye commented as Rowen
changed the channel.
"Looks like," Kento agreed from where he was sitting in one of the chairs. Sage was
in the other, reading a book.
"I'd better call Ma and tell her we're going to be late before she starts sticking
my face on all the milk cartons in Toyama." Kento reached for the phone and began dialing home.
Meanwhile, Rowen was sitting cross legged at the foot of the bed. In front of him were some cartons of Chinese take out. He held one carton in his hand, but seemed to have trouble feeding himself while flipping through the channels at the same time. Ryo, who was sitting at the side of the bed, looked at him and grinned.
"Hey Rowen, you getting that in your mouth fast enough? Or would you like some help?"
Rowen grumbled something at him, most likely an insult. But his mouth was so full of
food that no real words could be formed. He continued stuffing his face when he found a
channel which had a good action movie on it.
"Okay guys," Kento announced as he hung up the phone. "My mom's going to call
everyone at home so we don't rack up a phone bill calling long distance. I told her we might
even have to stay the night if the weather doesn't clear soon."
"I hope it does," Cye said from the opposite side of the bed. "None of us brought
anything for that."
"Aw, it won't be so bad," Kento insisted. "It's not like you've never worn the same
pair of clothes more than once, Cye." He paused as realization dawned on him. "And when
is Robyn going to get out? It's cramped in this dinky little singles room."
Cye grabbed the remote where it rested by Rowen's foot and pushed the mute button.
Most of the Ronins looked towards the door next to the tv where they could now hear sounds
coming from the other room. They couldn't hear sounds of the shower water running any more,
but the radio was still blaring full blast. Roaring dull below it was the familiar motor of a hair
dryer.
Kento listened intently to the voice singing with the radio music.
"Is that Robyn?" he wondered as Cye walked to the door. "She's not too bad."
Rowen turned his head around as Kento made that comment, slurping up a noodle. But he
couldn't look directly at Kento since a smiling Ryo was still sitting in the way.
"Hey Robyn," Cye called as he knocked on the door. "Are you done in there?"
Seconds later, the door flung open, revealing a fully dressed Robyn still singing to the
words of the song playing inside. She only stayed in the doorway long enough to turn on her heel,
almost smacking Cye with her still damp hair, and headed back into the bathroom where she
immediately went back to blow-drying her hair.
"Yes! Freedom!" Kento called as he crawled over the bed to get to the doorway. "Come
on Ryo, let's watch tv in the other room."
"Hey guys, watch it!" Rowen barked as their pilgrimage across the bed almost knocked
his food over.
Neither Hardrock nor Wildfire noticed as they moved to seek more elbow space in the
other room. Kento grabbed the remote while Ryo landed on his stomach, stretched across the
bed. Kento sat on the opposite corner and started flipping through the channels. He happened
upon a promising comedy show but found it a bit difficult to hear the punch lines with the radio
and hair dryer going not too far away.
"Hey Robyn, turn those things off," Kento called. "I'm trying to watch this."
Only the blow dryer turned off before Robyn walked out, hair frizzled and hands on hips.
"Excuse me," she stated. "Whose room are you in?"
"Yeah, but we're your guests," Kento argued. "You're supposed to be nice to us and make
us feel comfortable."
"Humph, uninvited guests," Robyn huffed as she went back into the bathroom. But the hair dryer did not come on again and in a few minutes, the radio was turned off.
Robyn stepped out of the bathroom and up to the bed. She was dressed in a white shirt
which hugged her body, but still remained loose on her and blue jeans that were styled to be
rolled up below the knees. White canvas shoes adorned her feet and her hair was all pulled up
into a pony tail save for a few strands around her face that were too short to stay up. She joined
the two young men on the bed and made Ryo scoot his body over so she could lay on her
stomach between him and Kento.
"So what are we watching?" she then asked.
"Eh, the ending of some sit-com," Kento said as he started flipping through the channels
again.
"Hey Robyn," Ryo said as he looked her in the face. "It's nice to see there's a real person
under there."
"Huh?" a confused Robyn replied.
Ryo flipped at a few hair strands still hanging in front of her forehead with a finger. "You
always wear your hair down. It's like a curtain. It's nice to be able to see your face every now and
then."
Robyn, for once, did not have a reply. All she managed to do was give a small smile and
look shyly away.
"So," Rowen announced after he tossed his food boxes in the trash. He was now leaning
in the doorway that joined the two rooms. "What are we going to do today?"
"Well, that depends, I suppose," Cye said as he stepped past Rowen into the other room.
"Are we seriously staying the night here or are we going to count on the weather getting better
this afternoon and going home?"
Sage's voice was calm but clear from the other room. "The weather here has been too
erratic for us to tell how it's going to be later. Perhaps we should say that if it doesn't clear by a
certain time then we stay here for the night."
The others seemed to agree with that.
"You know, " Rowen put in. "I wouldn't mind staying here one more night. They're
posting our test scores tomorrow. It would be nice to see them then instead of waiting a month for them to be mailed to me. Plus there's a lot of fun stuff to do around this city."
"Yeah, when you can see where you're going," Kento muttered under his breath.
"Oh, that reminds me," Robyn said as she left her spot between the two Ronins on the bed
and bent over a bag sitting next to the lamp. "Here Cye," she continued as she walked towards
him with an object in her hand. "I got something for you."
"What is it?" Cye wondered as Robyn was now making him stand in front of the large
mirror by the bathroom.
"This," Robyn replied simply, draping a deep green shirt over his front and stretching the
sleeves to make sure the size was correct. "Oh, this shade of green is perfect, it matches your
eyes. The material isn't real silk, unfortunately. But it feels like it. You wear this and the girls
won't be able to keep their hands off you."
Cye, who was trying to comment in between Robyn's constant talking, suddenly lost his
voice at that last announcement. He numbly caught the shirt as Robyn dropped it in his hands.
"Robyn," he finally managed to get out. "I--I can't accept this."
Robyn turned to look at him. "Sure you can. You just smile and say 'Thank you, Robyn'."
"But--"
"Say it, Cye."
He looked into her expectant face and swallowed his pride with a deep breath. "Thank
you, Robyn, " he said quietly.
Robyn smiled brightly as she patted his shoulder. "It was no problem."
"Hey, where's my present?" Kento then wanted to know.
Cye shot him a glare but Robyn never missed a beat as she dug into her pocket.
"Here, catch," she called as she tossed him a bright yellow object.
"Is that a yo-yo?" Ryo wondered as he looked at what Kento had.
"Ah, nice!" Kento exclaimed appreciatively as he tried it out. "Check it out Ryo; bounces
right back." Kento stood up and away from the tv. Then he pulled an impressive
Round-the-World and caught the yo-yo again neatly. "Thanks!"
"I thought you'd like it," Robyn grinned. "Since both you and Ryo like playing with them
I've noticed. I just thought it would be fun for all of us to play with."
By now, even Sage had put down his book and got up to see what the group was up to.
"So what are we going to do today then?" he wanted to know.
Everyone looked expectantly at everyone else. No one said a word.
"Well, let's do something," Kento insisted. "We can't sit around and watch tv all day."
"I brought my soccer ball," Ryo offered. "It's out in the car."
"Yeah!" Robyn's eyes lit up. "Let's go find a park and play soccer in the fog you guys. It'll
be fun!"
"Sounds good," Kento agreed, turning off the tv.
"Yeah, let's do it," Cye said as he put his new shirt neatly away.
"Great!" Ryo exclaimed as he jumped off the bed. "Let's go!" He led the way out the door
as the group paraded out to the elevator.
"So what else did you guys do yesterday?" Kento asked Robyn as they started down the
hall.
"Oh gee, what did we do Rowen?" Robyn wondered out loud.
"We rented videos," Rowen helped.
"Oh, that's right!" Robyn exclaimed. Then her voice suddenly switched to a badly done
accent. "We watched British comedies all night."
"Right 'o love," Rowen agreed in the same bad accent. "We learned some cool new
phrases, eh what?"
"Like what?" Kento, who was now chuckling, wanted to know.
"Like uh...."
"Nancy," Robyn announced.
"Oh right," Rowen continued faking the English accent. "Cye, you're such a nancy."
"I am not!" Cye insisted. "And are you guys making fun of my accent!?"
"NO!" both Robyn and Rowen denied in a boisterous British voice.
"Well, it's not funny," Cye insisted. "Is it guys?"
Ryo was already sprinting for the elevator so no one would see his tears of laughter. Sage
was right behind him. Cye sighed as they all stepped into the box.
"Anything else you two did that would make my day go better?" Cye asked sarcastically.
"That's pretty much it," Rowen said.
"Except for the fact we got banned for life from a Toys-R-Us store," Robyn remembered.
"How'd you pull that off?" Kento laughed.
"We were just trying out their scooters," Robyn insisted. "No one got hurt and we didn't
break anything. Not even when Rowen knocked over that display case."
All those not involved with the previously mentioned fiasco shook their heads as the
elevator doors closed behind them.
It took several minutes of wandering around town and asking what people they happened
upon, but the group finally managed to locate the park. The teams were split up by just whoever
happened to be standing where when they decided to start playing. So it ended up being Ryo,
Rowen, and Cye against Sage, Kento, and Robyn. The fog wasn't too bad there. At least they
could somewhat find the goals they had crafted on either side of the large grass field.
Within ten minutes into the game Kento and Rowen had gotten into two mock fights
because they kept confronting each other when one or the other got the ball. The threats
were all talk, of course. But it was funny to watch the two bully each other around. The second
time, Robyn was laughing so hard at their antics that she could hardly move as Ryo easily maneuvered the ball past her and made another goal. This resulted in Kento getting after Sage for being a lousy goalie.
But the game rolled on and everyone was having a great time. Cye kept complaining to
Ryo--their resident soccer pro--to quit head-butting the ball as just watching it gave him a
headache. But it was obvious that this was Ryo's sport and he continued tearing up the field until
Kento's team was behind by several points and he was demanding another player to counteract
Wildfire's superior soccer skills.
"Don't worry about it," Robyn said right after. "We're doing okay. Look who has the ball
Kento."
He looked.
"Rowen, this time you're mine!" he announced as he started after him.
The two once again clashed and wrestled for the ball. There was a mad hustle of feet until
someone connected and the ball shot off to the side. Ryo, being the soccer shark that he was,
started instantly after it. But Robyn was also charging right for it. She saw that her and Ryo
would probably get there at the same time. But instead of slowing to prevent a collision, Robyn
poured on the speed. Ryo wasn't about to slow down either. The two hit at full tilt at the same
time. Robyn's lighter weight flew backwards and the ball flew out of bounds. Ryo was standing
on his toes over her, arms pinwheeling to get his balance so he wouldn't fall on top of her.
Ryo managed to gain his balance and couldn't find any real damage from the collision.
Robyn, however, remained on the ground. Her heaving chest was the only thing that moved.
"Hey, you okay?" Ryo asked while Rowen was retrieving the ball.
There was a groan in response and Robyn's finger shot up to point at him.
"I don't like you any more."
"Oh come on, don't blame me," Ryo insisted. "You knew before we started that we play for keeps." He offered his hand to her to help her up. "If you didn't want to get hurt you shouldn't
have gone for the ball like that."
"Yeah, yeah," Robyn mumbled as she let Ryo pull her to her feet. "My fault, I know. You
sure have sharp elbows though," she added as she rubbed her side.
"You'll live." Ryo patted her shoulder good naturedly then took off again as the ball was
already in play once more.
"Yeah, but you just better watch out next time," Robyn called after him. "You're on my
list, buddy."
"Oh, you hear that guys?" Kento called from the field. "You got Robyn mad. You're all
going down now."
That comment only earned him a few chuckles from the other team and the game
continued on. After his last charge plus all the other running he had been doing, Ryo was a bit
winded. He remained at the ready off to the side while Kento and Rowen were now charging for
the ball. They attempted what Ryo and Robyn had done a few minutes earlier; resulting in Rowen
being plowed over by Kento.
The bearer of Hardrock now had no one in front of him as he charged for the opposing
goal. Cye was the closest and immediately raced after him. But he knew from previous games he
wasn't good enough to get the ball away from Kento so he tried a different approach. In a fit of
silliness, Cye suddenly jumped on Kento's back in attempts to slow him down; hopefully long
enough for Ryo to catch up and take the ball the right way.
His plan only partly worked, however. While Kento had slowed down so he could
properly yell at and try to removed Cye from him, Ryo was laughing so hard he was having a
hard time running straight. But he finally got there and their confrontation turned into the
predicted foot tussle which ended in the ball being kicked far off to the side-- into the fog and out
of sight.
"I got it," Robyn, who was closest to the sidelines, called.
With that she trotted out of the field to search through the dense fog for the missing ball.
Behind her she heard Sage calling he was coming to help since it was obvious it would be more
difficult to locate the soccer ball than usual. Almost instantly past the field boundaries, the foliage got dense. Robyn had to root around through a bunch of ferns and bushes before she found what she was looking for.
"There you are," she told the ball as she bent to retrieve it.
It was strange that Robyn never heard anyone coming through the thick growth of plants.
But she was hardly given time to think about it when she stood and saw who was standing before
her. He was a slightly stout man. Not too tall. His eyes were dark and stern. They peered at her
with a scrutinizing gaze under bushy red eyebrows. They were the same color as the reddish mass
the grew in matted clumps on his head and also the unshaved stubble on his chin. He dressed in
dark clothes with a brown overcoat to cover his slightly hunched frame.
Robyn gasped when she saw him. Hugging the soccer ball close, she instantly backed
away only to hit into something solid behind her. She gazed upward in fear and saw familiar
stormy violet eyes peering down at her. Sage was taken aback to see such a look of fear on her face. His eyes shot over to see what she was so afraid of and saw the man standing there.
"Who are you?" he asked the man, stepping in front of Robyn as he did so.
The stranger only grunted in reply. He looked directly at Robyn as if Sage wasn't even
there.
"Still messing up people's lives?" he asked her in a gruff voice. "You were always good at
that."
By this time, the others were wondering what had become of their friends and had gone
after them. Ryo was the first to appear from the fog with Cye and Kento right behind him and
Rowen at the back. Even before he could see the situation clearly, Ryo sensed that something was
wrong.
"You ruin everything you touch," the man continued in a hateful tone. "Do your friends know that? How long are you going to force them to put up with you? Do you enjoy watching
people's lives go down the toilet?"
Most of the Ronins looked on in confusion. Cye stepped forward, his gaze stern.
"What are you doing here?" he asked the man evenly.
The older man threw him a dirty look. "Why don't you mind your own business, kid?" he
wanted to know.
"This is my business," Cye insisted, getting right in his face.
The Ronins were still in the dark as to what was going on or to who this man really was.
Robyn was frozen where she stood, the ball still clutched at her chest as she remained backed against Sage.
"Wait a minute, I know you," the stranger announced, wagging a finger in Cye's face.
"You're that little Mouri brat that used to live next door. Man, I thought you were a little off kid, but I didn't think you were crazy. What's the matter with you?"
Robyn couldn't stand it. She didn't want Cye having to answer for what he did for her.
"Dad please, stop it!" she cried.
All the Ronins stared at her. Dad? Was it possible?
The man looked at Robyn, a hateful growl on his lips.
"Watch it, you have no right to talk to me like that. Not after what you did to your
mother."
"No, Daddy...." Robyn pleaded softly.
"It's your fault she's dead. You tore our family apart. This all happened because of you."
Robyn stood there trembling, looking like his words had taken solid form and knocked
her square in the face. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something. A tear ran
down her cheek before she turned on her heels and fled. Quickly, she pushed past Ryo, Kento,
and Rowen and disappeared into the fog.
"Robyn!" Cye called after her, but she was already gone. Clenching his fists, Cye
growled, ready to give the man behind him the knuckle sandwich he had been saving for so long. But when he turned around to give it to him, Robyn's father had disappeared. But somehow his laugh seemed to waft up from the fog to taunt him.
"Cye, was that really....." Ryo asked in a hushed voice.
Cye breathed out deeply before turning to face his friends. "Let's find Robyn first."
The others nodded and they all started out into the fog in their search.
Meanwhile, Robyn ran as far and fast as her legs would carry her. She didn't care where
she was going as long as it was far away from that horrid figure still taunting in her head. Tears
spilled hotly down her cheeks, blurring her vision. Robyn ran further into the undergrowth as the
park melted into a forest. But Robyn didn't care if she got lost or if anyone ever found her again.
Running was the only thing she knew how to do at this point and she would keep doing it as long
as she could.
Sharp thorns and twigs slashed at her arms, legs and face, but Robyn rushed forward. She
welcomed the pain. It made the great torture in her chest seem less painful. She would welcome
any amount of physical pain if it caused the gaping hole inside her to go away. Robyn lost her
footing as she plunged into a very shallow stream. Her shoes were wet and her knees were
scraped from the rocks. But up she got again and continued to run.
But her frightened, angry journey was suddenly cut short when she collided with
something hard but springy and was tossed backwards to the ground. Robyn rubbed her eyes to
get a clear view of what was in her way. A chain link fence separating the public park lands from
private property stood opposingly in front of her. Robyn breathed out heavily and slumped to the
ground. She didn't have the strength to climb it. In the stillness of the fog she could hear familiar
voices calling her name. All she could do now was hunch over and wait to be found.
While he could hear his other comrades calling Robyn's name through the fog, Kento stayed quiet. He had heard something crashing through the forest earlier and decided to just keep silent and run after the sound. He hoped to himself that he was chasing after the right person. Kento paused when the forest went quiet. Whatever he was chasing didn't seem to be running any more so he continued on slowly and stealthily as he crossed a small river and started up a grassy hill.
Somewhere in the fog he heard sobbing now and continued on until he spotted a figure hunched miserably next to a chain link fence. It tore Kento's heart open to see Robyn hurt like that; but he spoke not a word as he walked up and sat down beside her.
"Robyn?" he finally asked gently. "Are you going to be okay?"
"No Kento," Robyn exclaimed bitterly through her tears. "No, I'm not going to be okay!" She paused to swallow and added in a calmer voice. "Not for a long time."
"Why not?" Kento prodded gently. "So what if you saw your dad? You can get over it. We're all here for you, okay?"
"No, you don't know what it was like," Robyn sobbed. "I hate him! I hate him!"
Kento watched with silent awe as she slammed her fist to the ground with each exclamation. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to hate a parent. He also couldn't imagine Robyn really hating anybody. So with those two concepts beyond his reach, Kento was finding himself on very unsteady ground.
"Robyn," he fumbled. "Do you really mean that? How--how can you....?"
"You don't understand," Robyn cried. "He didn't do anything. He knew my mother was sick and he didn't do anything to help her. He would just sit there and watch sometimes when my mother did things to me and never do or say something about it. He didn't--wouldn't do anything for either of us and he blames me! I hate him! I hope he rots in hell!"
Robyn pounded both her fists on the grassy ground and then crumbled into uncontrollable sobs. Kento was quick to gather her up in his arms and held her tight against him while Robyn clutched at his shirt and dampened the front of it with her tears. All Kento could do in return was merely hold her until she was all cried out.
Looking up, Kento was surprised to see the form of Ryo standing a few feet off, partially hidden in the fog. How much he had heard was anyone's guess. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his face was a mask that hid all he was feeling. He must have been taking lessons from Sage. Kento motioned for Ryo to keep quiet and to come over and sit by them without calling to any of the others.
Robyn's sobs were slowly subsiding. The two young men continued to sit there patiently; Kento looking at Ryo while he looked down at his hands. But both looked straight ahead when strange sounds began emitting from the dark forest. Strange, piercing lights shot through the fog. What on earth was it? Kento stiffened when he felt an odd sensation tickling at the back of his mind. Something deep; digging down to the very heart of his armor. Almost like someone was using his own powers not far away.
"Ryo, here," he spoke softly, motioning for Ryo to come take his place holding their friend.
"What is it?" Ryo asked with a bit of urgency. "What do you think it is Kento?"
He moved his arms protectively around Robyn. She had stopped crying for the most part now and looked up at Kento as well.
"I don't know," Kento admitted as he stepped closer where the lights were flashing. It sounded too familiar out there. Like a battle. And it was getting closer. "Something is reacting with my armor out there. I can feel something.....so similar. I'm not sure what it is."
Kento jumped and Ryo grabbed Robyn and ducked as an energy beam shot out in their direction, completely annihilating any trees in its wake. Robyn clutched Ryo tighter, wondering what was going on. Kento jumped to his feet again, thinking he was ready for whatever else would come their way. But he wasn't ready for the body flying through the air right towards him.