Author's Notes: Hope everyone is enjoying this so far. Thanks so much to everyone who has been commenting on this story and also has commented on DitD. Especially with constructive criticism, I really appreaciate it. Thanks so much for reading! .
Ronins Interrupted
By: Ghost of the Dawn
Chapter Five: Reluctant Retreats
Large, green eyes opened slowly as the result of silent shuffling in the stillness. Robyn raised her head slightly and looked around. It was still early in the morning; the sun was just barely starting to come up over the horizon. Only a small amount of light managed to sneak in through the closed curtains of the hotel room. In the dimness Robyn made out a figure passing by the open doorway that connected the two rooms.
"Rowen?" she called to the shuffling.
The movement in the other room stopped and then Rowen poked his head out where it could be seen.
"Where are you going?" Robyn continued to ask as she sat up.
Rowen put a finger to his lips and motioned her to follow him. He was already dressed and ready for the day, which was surprising considering his usual sleeping habits. Robyn was still in the clothes she wore the day before. She slipped out of the bed, placing the covers over Cye who was still fast asleep beside her. After stepping over Kento's slumbering mass on the floor, Robyn followed the bearer of Strata out of the room and into the hallway.
"What in the world are you up to this early in the morning, Rowen Hashiba?" Robyn asked outright when he closed the door.
"Come on and I'll show you," came the reply.
Just like Rowen to never give a straight answer when asked. Robyn could do little else but obediently follow. Suddenly realizing what kind of state her hair was in, Robyn pulled it out of its lop-sided pony tail and combed her fingers through it to smooth it down. She proceeded to braid the mess of red while they got into the elevator. She thought it odd when Rowen pushed the button to go up instead of down. Where was he going?
They eventually ended up on the hotel roof. Rowen walked bravely right out in the middle of the roof top and looked around. The fog was still as thick and stubborn as it was the day before. It was as if nothing could ever make it decide to leave.
"Rowen, what exactly are we doing on the roof?" Robyn wondered.
Rowen looked down at her before digging into his pocket as if that would suffice for an answer. Robyn's eyes grew a bit wider when he produced a glowing blue orb. Rowen held it out in his open palm for her to observe. His expression turned one to amusement at the way Robyn studied the shining object.
"Go ahead, touch it," he encouraged.
Robyn hesitated as she timidly reached out a finger to make contact with the miraculous orb. Mere millimeters from touching it, a tiny electric surge arced out and shocked her. It didn't hurt at all, but Robyn pulled back at feeling its power. Rowen just smiled wider before he closed his hand around it. Light suddenly surged between his fingers as a result and in an instant, blue and white armor adorned his body and his hand was empty.
"Not bad, huh?" Rowen stood tall as he looked over his sub armor like it was the first time he had ever worn it. Robyn just smiled and let him show off.
"Stand back," he then instructed.
Wondering why, Robyn took a few cautionary steps backwards. Rowen looked steadfastly up at the grey sky before clenching his fists and summoning his power.
"Armor of Strata! Dao inochi!"
Robyn had to cover her face as a blinding light seemed to engulf her friend's entire being. When it was gone, it left a young man dressed fully in deep blue armor. In one swift motion, Rowen of the Strata drew his magnificent bow. Reaching behind him, a golden arrow appeared in his fingers. He strung the arrow with the skill of a master and pointed the tip heavenward.
"Rowen, what are you doing?" Robyn wanted to know. She was having a hard time following Rowen's motives in all this.
The armored figure only spared her a quick glace before returning his gaze to his target. "Just making sure we get out of this crazy city today."
He let the golden arrow fly high, high up into the overbearing grey clouds smothering the sky. Robyn tried to follow its path, but the arrow raced ever higher until it disappeared from view. She then again looked to Rowen for answers but the bearer of Strata wasn't paying attention. Instead, his eyes were closed and he seemed to be concentrating. Robyn looked skyward again just in time to see a stream of blue lightning shoot madly from above. It seemed almost as if the sky were enraged at what was shot at it.
The wind began to pick up about then. Rowen was already starting to armor down into his civilian clothes again. Robyn hardly noticed and, instead, continued to watch as the clouds slowly started to swirl around the spot where the arrow had disappeared. Rowen walked up beside her, watching the sky as well. But his presence wasn't noticed until he rested his arm around her shoulders. Robyn blinked and looked at him though Rowen's gaze remained on the sky. He gently pulled her closer and Robyn allowed herself to lean against him. For a moment, she had to borrow his strength for she had none of her own for which to stand. The two stood there quietly together for several minutes.
"So," Rowen then announced as he finally looked down at her. "Ready to go back to the university and find out how many people's butts I've whooped?"
She smiled at him. "Sounds like a plan to me." They started walking back to the roof exit together.
"So when are you guys going to tell me what happened last night?" Robyn then asked.
Rowen's expression instantly went sheepish as he scratched the back of his head. They had discussed it the night before and none of them really intended on telling her anything.
"Well...it wasn't--I mean....Hey! I'll race you back to the room!"
Robyn put her hands on her hips as Rowen took off into the building. Typical.
"So, Darien's still gone then, huh?" Lita asked her group of friends casually. They, plus several other crowds of students were waiting inside the university for the posting of the test scores.
"Apparently so," Rei replied as she idly gazed at the ceiling.
Next to her Serena was seething.
"Just wait until I get my hands on him," she growled. "How dare he run of and leave me!"
"He left her a message last night," Mina clarified. She, of course knew all the gossip. "He didn't say what he was doing. He just said something came up and that he has to be gone for a few more days."
"If I find out he's cheating on me I'll--" Serena threatened under her breath.
"Humph, I wouldn't blame him if he was," Rei informed her. "You're so possessive it probably drives him nuts!"
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"Calm down Serena," said Ami, the ever present peace maker. "I'm sure Darien has a good reason. It's not like him to just go off like that unless it was something important."
"Hey, maybe it has something to do with what happened last night," Lita offered. "Maybe he's trying to find out what's going on. If that's the case, you know he's going to come back and tell us all about it so we can help."
"Yeah, so don't worry about it, Serena," Mina smiled.
"Yeah, yeah," Serena mumbled.
At the back of the crowd, a group of teenagers fought their way into the building against the raging wind that had mysteriously started up that morning. But no one hardly paid any attention to them, even when the door slammed shut with a loud bang. The wind had been going like that for some time so it was nothing out of the ordinary now to hear the door slam shut every now and then when more students came through it.
"Nice going Mr. Weather Wizard," Robyn grouched as she pulled her wind blown hair out of her face. "Couldn't you have made it blow just a little less softer than this?"
"Hey, what do I look like, an X-Man?" Rowen defended. "I don't control the weather, I just manipulate it the best I can, okay?"
Robyn just huffed and let the subject drop.
"Okay you guys, hurry and see your scores so we can get out of this stupid city," Kento urged.
"I don't think they're up yet," Robyn observed.
Rowen glanced at Sage's watch. "They should be posting them any minute though."
About that moment the students started getting excited and crowded more to the front as a few officials came out and posted copies of all the test scores on the wall.
"Yes, there they are," Rowen said enthusiastically. "Come on Robyn, let's go see what we got." He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the crowd. Robyn hardly shared his excitement, but let him drag her along nonetheless.
"They better not take too long," Kento vowed as he folded his arms. "I wanna go home now."
"Kento, we can't just leave," Cye insisted. "Can we? What about those creatures? What if they attack again? We're just going to turn our backs and forget about it?"
"What else are we supposed to do?" Sage put in. "We've already spent an extra night here. I've got to be home today or my parents are grounding me for sure."
Kento nodded.
"I wish I had been there," Ryo said without thinking. "I wish I would have seen it, too. Maybe I could have helped you guys figure out what they were after. If we knew why they were here we could come up with some sort of plan about what to do next."
"Look," Sage insisted. "Either way we have to go back to Toyama after this. From then on we'll just have to keep an eye on the news and on the city. Whatever it is might even follow us back there. We just have to wait until those things show themselves again. We'll figure out what to do after that."
The others agreed.
"This is stupid Rowen," Robyn whined amidst the crowd of eager students. "It's going to take us all day to get up there. Like I care what I got anyway. Let's go home and wait for it in the mail."
"No way, I gotta see it," Rowen insisted. "Stay here and I'll check out both our scores, okay?"
"Whatever," Robyn shrugged as Rowen pushed his way further into the crowd by himself.
"Oh no, it's them!" Rei suddenly gasped. She pointed over to where four of the five Ronins were having some kind of discussion.
"Oh, I hope they don't see us," Mina whined. "I'd be so embarrassed."
The four of them--minus Ami who was looking at her test score--gazed uneasily at the group of boys.
"Hey, who's the guy with the dark hair?" Lita wondered. "He wasn't there last night."
Across the way, Kento noticed them and waved like it was any other thing. Cye quickly grabbed his arm to stop him while the girls all blushed at the attention they were now getting. Ryo turned around to watch them curiously while the other three started talking all at once, trying to explain things to him.
"Well, they don't seem to be mad at us or anything," Serena observed. "Rei, are you sure they're what you say they are? What if they're like us and they're just trying to fight the Nega-trash, too? Maybe you were just having some bad dreams."
"They weren't dreams, Serena!" Rei insisted. "I know what I saw! You saw what they were wearing and those weapons. What do you think they were going to do with those anyway? What if they hurt somebody?"
"Look guys, they're going to be gone in a few hours anyway," Lita rationalized. "Let's just get Ami and go. We can't do anything about it right now."
The other girls reluctantly agreed and moved on out of the site of the ronins.
"Hi again Ami," came a voice from the crowd.
The blue haired girl looked over to see the one person she had been dreading and yet waiting to see all day.
"Hello again Rowen," she smiled a bit uneasily. Rei's words from the night before echoed in her head. He didn't look bad. Was he really what her friend thought he was? He was acting so casual; like nothing had happened the night before. Was this just a trick to catch her off guard? She was so confused.
"So, how do you think you did on that test?" Rowen asked.
Ami blinked as she was brought out of her worrying. "I think I did pretty good. There were some really hard questions though. I'm not sure if I got them right. How about you?"
The tall young man just smiled. "We'll see when we get there."
After a few more minutes of waiting in line, it was finally their turn to check out the score boards. The names were placed by grade instead of in alphabetical order with the highest score at the top and the lowest at the bottom. Ami's eyes immediately started skimming for her last name. She started about the middle in looking--not wanting to give her hopes up too soon. Her gaze traveled up higher and higher until she nearly reached the top. She finally found her name. She had tied with three other people for second place with a ninety-eight percentage.
"Eighty-two," Ami heard Rowen mumble before she could see the highest score.
"Eighty-two percent?" she clarified. "Is that your score? That's not that bad, really."
"No," Rowen frowned. "That's what Robyn got. She didn't even try and she got eighty-two percent! I'm going to kill her."
Ami blinked at the unexpected answer. "So....what did you get then?"
Rowen half heartedly tapped the name at the top of the list and then trudged off into the crowd.
Ami glanced at the name: Rowen Hashiba--100.
She stared at the board in complete surprise. After all she had assumed about him and now this. One word managed to cross her otherwise speechless lips.
"...How?"
"Hey Rowen!" Robyn's face lit up when she saw her friend appear out of the crowd again. She must not have noticed his expression for she ran right up to him. "What'd ya get? What'd ya get?"
Rowen's dark mood was still ignored. "I got first with a hundred percent," he muttered.
Before he could even get the last word out Robyn squealed in delight and jumped at him, hugging him around the neck. Rowen stumbled back a bit when she did that. Because of their height difference, Robyn was now dangling off the ground with Rowen's shoulders supporting all her weight.
"Yay, Rowen! I knew you could do it! You're the best! Congratulations!"
When the excitement wasn't reciprocated, Robyn let go and looked at him curiously.
"What's the matter?"
That's when the bearer of Strata finally jumped to life.
"You got an eighty-two on your test Robyn. An eighty-two! Just think how well you could have done if you actually TRIED! Oh! I'm so mad at you right now!"
"Oh Rowen, don't be like that," Robyn begged. "It's not a big deal, just forget about it." She tugged on his sleeve and gave him her best puppy dog eyes. "Won't you let me be happy for you just this once? Pleeeease?"
Rowen stared her down, he was not caving for that. Robyn gave him a pouty expression before putting her arms around him, leaning her cheek on his arm.
"Oh please," she tried again--this time quoting the phrase the way it was used in the Monty Python movie they both so loved. It was from a favorite scene with the Knights who say "Nee" and they had been using it all the day previous.
That was enough to make Rowen finally crack a smile.
"Oh alright," he relented, earning a smile from Robyn. "I did get first place after all."
"That's right!" she beamed. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him off to rendezvous with the others. "Hey guys, Rowen won! He got first place!"
The other waiting ronins came to life and greeted their friends, congratulating him all at once.
"Way to go Rowen," Kento said louder than the rest. "Let's celebrate by going home."
No one had any problems with that suggestion.
Packing was no problem since only two of the group of six really brought anything. Within no time, they were all outside the hotel and ready to leave. The wind was still blowing fiercely as the group separated to their respective vehicles. Ryo and Kento were going to drive back in Sage's car while Cye and Robyn would be taken home by Rowen. The first group was already inside and Sage started the engine.
"Come on Robyn," Rowen called while she placed her bag in the trunk and shut it. "Get in now and I'll let you have shot gun."
Robyn was about to reply when a familiar feeling sank in her gut. It was the same feeling she got yesterday in the fog right before she met--
"Robyn!" Rowen called again.
She shook herself. "No, that's fine. Let Cye have the front, I don't care."
Rowen looked at Cye who shrugged and both got in. Robyn lingered as she gazed about her cautiously. But finding nothing to confirm her suspicions, she eventually got in as well. Rowen wasted no time in starting the car and following the way Sage had gone. The fog was completely gone by now and Robyn could see the city clearly. The tall buildings raced past her window as they drove for the city limits.
Cye sat quietly as they passed the road sign stating they had now left Tokyo. He looked back at Robyn who kept her gaze out the window. He then turned to Rowen.
"Do you think this city will okay without us?"
Rowen gave him his usual know-it-all look. "It'll be fine."
Inside their usual restaurant, the group of five girls sat around their favorite booth, enjoying ice cream shakes.
"So those guys have probably left by now," Mina said regretfully as she sucked on her straw. "You don't think they'll be coming back, do you?"
"I hope not," Rei huffed. "Good riddance to them all."
"What are you, some kind of man hater?" Mina shot back. "They were so cute! How could you not want to see them again?"
"How can you say that?! They're evil! They are the enemy!"
"How do you know Rei?" Lita jumped in. "Just because you happened to see something in a vision, doesn't necessarily mean it's true. And what if you interpreted it wrong as well?"
Rei furrowed her brows, taking into consideration what her friend just told her. But that vission was so clear. She could still remember it all. All the blood and the chaos and the evil. How could she ever misinterpret that?
"What about that girl Robyn?" Serena spoke up next. "Do you think she knows about them? If Rei is right then she could be in danger."
"And what are we supposed to do about it?" Lita ventured. "We can't just take off and follow them around. They don't even live in this city."
Everyone fell quiet as they mulled the situation over.
"Ami, you haven't said anything. Do you have any ideas?" Mina asked.
The blue haired girl had been staring hard at her ice cream during the whole conversation. Her brows were creased from deep thought. She must have been thinking hard about something and the others were all ears to hear what she was about to say as she raised her head.
"Well?" Rei urged.
Ami took a deep breath. "How did he beat me!?" she exclaimed.
Now realizing they were in two totally different worlds, the others sweat dropped.
"This wind isn't normal," Michelle stated quietly. She and Amara were standing on the roof of a sky scraper in their normal clothes. They weren't alone. Several other people were there at the observatory as well to take in the site of the city from so high above. The wind still blew up here. But it wasn't nearly as strong as it had been earlier that day.
"I know what you mean," Amara replied. Her back was to the city as she leaned against the rail.
Michelle pulled some wind blown strands of hair out of her face. "It feels almost like it's been tampered with. But why?"
"Maybe someone got tired of that choking fog," Amara joked dryly.
"Maybe," Michelle shot back. "But I don't think it's gone."
"What do you mean by that?" Amara turned around so they were now both gazing down at the city.
"The wind didn't get rid of it, it's just not here any more. It's moving and it's anyone's guess as to where it's headed."
"Then we have to follow it," Amara announced. "Where ever it's headed we have to be there."
"I know. But what about Sailor Moon and the others? Why don't we tell them about it? They could help us if--"
"No!" Amara shot back. "They don't need to know. We don't need to risk their lives for this."
"That's not why you don't want them involved and you know it," Michelle responded lowly. "You're afraid to think we can't handle this by ourselves and that we might need their help."
Amara just sighed. She wasn't going to argue it. "Either way, we're still not doing them any favors by getting them into this Michelle. They still have their regular lives to get through. Now isn't the best time to drag them off into danger. But if we do need their help we'll contact them, okay?"
"Okay," the green haired woman relented. "Come on Amara, let's go."