Kitty-chan: Two chapters in one day! WOOT! Actaully, I'm sick and have nothing better to do. Anyway, here's the second chapter. Hope ya like it! Oh! I don't own any of the Samurai Troopers. They are all characters belonging to Sunrise. :Lucky peoples: Anyways, enjoy and here are the name translations. Uh... I'm gonna put these at the beginning of each chapter so the people who aren't familiar with Samurai Troopers don't have to keep going back to the first chapters to get the names again.

Character Names
Sanada Ryo: Ryo Sanada (Duh)
Hashiba Toma: Rowen Hashiba
Date Seiji: Sage Date
Mouri Shin: Cye Mouri
Rei Faun Shu: Kento Lei Faun

Armor Names
Rekka: Wildfire
Tenku: Heavens/ Strata
Korin: Nimbus/ Halo
Suiko: Torrent
Kongo: Stone/ Hardrock

Enjoy!

Ryo slowly slid down the stairs, attempting to keep his movements from jarring his injuries. He entered the kitchen to see Seiji quietly sipping at a small cup of tea at the table while Naste kept Shu at bay with a steaming spatuala. The smell of fresh omlettes wafted in the air, mingling with the dewy small coming in through an open window above the sink. The light in the kitchen seemed almost blinding and a bit heavenly. Things were peaceful… for now.

Naste's face brightened as Ryo entered. "Ohayo,(1) Ryo."

"Ohayo." Ryo offered a small smile and gingerly placed himself at the table across from Seiji. He looked at his friend, whose face was laden with concern. "Seiji? You alright?"

Seiji looked up as if just now noticing that Ryo was there. He stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Ah."

Ryo sighed. There was an awkward pause before Ryo began to speak. "So, did you find out what's wrong with Shin?"

Seiji shrugged. "I know there was an incredible power drain there, but I need to confirm something in a little bit. There's something more than just an energy drain going on here."

There was another long pause before Naste cleared her throat and addressed Ryo. "Omlette?" She offered, motioning to her sizzling frying pan.

Ryo smiled and was truly grateful for her offer, but he wasn't in the least bit hungry. "No thanks."

"Tea then?" she pushed, seemingly determined to serve him something.

"Alright. Thanks." He nodded.

"OK." Naste dashed over to the kettle, which still held tea from the pot Seiji had made and filled a mug before plaing it in front of Ryo. "Here." She suddenly whirrled around and shouted, "Shu no baka!"

Shu dashed, laughing from the kitchen and into the livingroom, a link of sausage between his fingers. Naste followed him as far as the kitchen doorway. "Why don't you do something constructive instead of terrorizing me, huh? Why don't you work on repairing that hole in the wall?" she cried, placing her hands on her hips. "Your armor can help, can't it?"

"Yeah, but I'll need Toma's wind yoroi(2) to help." Shu whined, sitting on the couch and munching on the spoils of his venture.

"Then go wake him up." Naste suggested, tossing her hip and waving the spatula.

Shu's eyes widened. "Are you nuts? That's suicide!"

"Whatever." Naste shrugged and began to walk back into the kitchen. "I'll give you an omlette if you wake Toma up. That fair enough?" she called over her shoulder. Shu grumbled as he heard Seiji and Ryo begin to chuckle from in the kitchen.

Shu considered his options, then, his eyes narrowed, he trudged upstairs.

Shu was about to enter the bedroom which Toma and Seiji shared when he paused to look at his own bedroom door across the hall. He sighed and headed into his own room, peering in at the sleeping Shin. Gomen nasai, Shin. I should've been there to help you. Shu furrowed his brow. There were some things about Takai that they would have to look into. He knew the metallic tentacles wielded by Takai were able to drain the energy of whatever they touched, but of what use were they to him? It's not like he could absorb Suiko's power, and then use it against them. So what was the point, anyway?

"Shu?" Shu turned to se Seiji. "Aren't you supposed to be waking Toma?"

Shu sweatdropped. "Uhh… yeah. I was just checking on Shin." He shrugged. "Is it a crime to be a bit worried?"

Seiji smiled gently and shook his head. "No. In fact I'm here to check on him, too. I need to confirm something before I actually give a diagnosis and an estimate on how long he'll take to heal."

Shu nodded. "Can you help him at all?"

Seiji shrugged. "I don't know. You know that the only wonds my armor can heal ar the physical type. If this turns out to be simply an energy drain, there's nothing I can do for him. But I'll do whatever I can."

Shu smiled and nodded again. "Arigitou, Seiji.

"Ryo? How are you feeling?" Naste inquired, finding the leader immersed in a copy of the American movie I, Robot. She doubted he could understand a word of the movie, considering he was watching the English copy her Grandfather had brought back to her on one of his trips to America, but it seemed interesting anyway.

Ryo looked up, smiling. "I feel fine, actually. Seiji says he can heal my ribs since it's a physical injury and all."

"Ah! That's good news." Naste smiled back and sat down next to him.

Seiji was seen on the steps as Toma and Shu's yelling erupted down the hall. He winced and smirked at Naste. "Just like old times, eh?"

"I guess so. Did you confirm what you needed to about Shin?" She inquired quickly. Ryo perked up to listen.

Seiji waited until after he had seated himself on Ryo's opposite side to speak. "Apparently, Takai held onto Shin for longer than we expected. His very life energy was nearly completely drained away yesterday. If it would've been completely drained, he would have died. I'm surprised that he was able to remain conscious long enough to get into bed."

"So, what can we do to help?" Ryo asked as Shu began decending the steps and the shower was heard down the hall.

"Currently, there's nothing any of us can do for him. I cannot heal him because his wounds are not physical. He simply needs rest. Lots of rest. He will probably be alsleep for days on end, and to be honest, that's exactly what he needs." Seiji motioned to Ryo and he removed his shirt. Seiji began to study the wraps.

"So, how long will he sleep, do you think?" Shu wondered, getting the gist of the conversation.

Seiji bobbed his head back and forth and began to remove Ryo's bandage. "The bare minimum would probably about two days. Most likely three or four. If he goes past five, worry." Seiji tossed the bandage aside and placed his hands on Ryo's chest, right where he could sense the broken bones.

"Don't overtax yourself, Seiji." Ryo warned.

"Don't worry." Seiji nodded and a green glow surrounded his body, soon transferring to Ryo's chest. Ryo grunted, then sighed and stood. He moved around a bit, enjoying his freedom of movement.

"Arigitou, Seiji." Ryo smiled.

"No problem."

Toma appeared on the steps. "Morning, everyone."

"You mean afternoon?" Shu laughed. "It's almost one."

Toma shrugged carelessly. "Whatever. Breakfast time."

"Oh yeah! Now you're talking my language!" Shu pumped his fist in the air before jabbing his right index finger at Naste. "You owe me an omlette!"

"Alright, alright, Shu." Naste shook her head and headed into the kitchen. She smiled at Shu's energy. He didn't seem to have changed much. He still seemed to be the overzealous hyperactive teen he had been during the first war. Of course, it could be her imagination. Perhaps she wished things to be like they were and so saw them that way. Then again, it could be this house. There was a nostolgic air about the whole area. She found herself, as she meandered about her business at home, having brief flashbacks of when something memorable or noteworthy ocurred at at some point during their second war with Arago. Yes, it could have been the house.

Ryo reclaimed his shirt, but paused in his procedure to the kitchen when he spotted the look on Seiji's face. "Seiji? What's up?"

Seiji growled. "Ryo… youja(3)!"

"Here?"

"Ah!"

Ryo dashed into the kitchen, followed closely by Seiji. "Shu! Toma! Youja!"

"Here?" Shu yelled, breaking away from hovering over Naste's frying pan.

In what seemed like an instant, the four warriors and Naste stood, battle ready, on the front porch. Ryo looked around, balling his armored fists. A long minute passed before Shu relaxed and stood up straight. "You sure they're here?"

"Ah. I can feel them." Seiji answered, nodding and sweeping the grounds with his eyes.

Naste jumped and yelped in surprise along with Ryo as the latter was tackled from behind by a black figure. He landed several feet away from Naste's porch, the assailant landing on his back. "Nani?" Ryo cried, attempting to turn enough to get a look at the creature on his back.

"Ryo!" Naste yelled, holding herself back from running into the fight to do what she could. These are youja?

The creature certainly didn't look like the ninjas they had met in their past experiences. The previous enemies had been large hulking masses of grayish armor. These were nothing of the sort. These creatures held all the characteristics of a stealth ninja. They were dressed head to toe in black. A hood, which covered the top of their heads, also had a strip of cloth covering what was supposed to be their nose and mouth. Though, Naste doubted they had such traits since the eyes were nothing more then empty glowing red circles. These look like ninjas. She reitereated.

Shu grabbed the back of the youja on Ryo and roughly threw it off and away to the right. Ryo lept to his feet to see that the ninjas had completely surrounded them. No one moved for a long time and Shu finally chuckled. "This looks promising, no?"

Toma smirked a bit. But his face turned instantly serious as he examined the small regiment of youja. What's the point of all this? Takai knows we beat Arago… so why did he send an army this small to fight us. It seems like a waste of energy to do this. He should know it would take much more than this to take us down. He paused and raised an eyebrow as the ninja directly before him produced a small dagger from its black belt. What the…? The knife seemed to glow with a black light. There were waves of powerful dark energy flooding from the blade and seemed to sink to the ground like steam from dry ice. The dark energy would crawl for a few inches once it hit the ground, but then vanish. That can't be good. "Minna! Those knives give me a bad feeling! Don't let one touch you!"

"Ah, Toma." Seiji called in agreement, never taking his eyes from the enemy in front of him. "There's something… very wrong… about-!" A youja rushed at him, causing him to cut himself off. The enemy wielded a dark dagger aimed directly for his heart, but Seiji quickly spun around to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to it's head. The youja dropped to the ground and lay still for a moment before bursting into a flurry of black smoke.

At that first charge, five more youja rushed foreward, all five attempting to hit the Samurai with one of the knives. The battle was a thing to behold for Naste, who stood, waiting on the porch. She didn't have too many opportunities to see the Samurai Troopers engaged in a real battle, but now, she was watching a truly difficult fight. The new enemies were much faster and much more deadly than those of Arago. They moved in the shadows, disappearing for a few seconds, then striking when the Samurai Trooper was foolish enough to let down his guard. The battle only lasted about ten minutes when a loud cry rose above the noise of the fight.

"Busso… Kongo(4)!" The earth shuddered and roared as its master donned his armor. A flash of orange blinded Naste and all the Samurai for a moment. When the light dimmed, everyone looked at Shu, fully decked out in his armor of the stone. Shu smirked confidently. "If anyone wishes to leave now, I'll understand."

All the ninjas remained totally and completely motionless while three colored figures lept from the area and landed on the porch near Naste. Naste raised an eyebrow. "Ryo, Toma, Seiji, what are you doing? You're deserting Shu?"

Ryo laughed and shook his head. "No, we're staying out of his way."

As soon as this was said, Naste noted, it seemed like a good idea. As Shu raised his fists up into the air, the earth prepared to respond. It began to shake and roar, increasing in volume as Shu threw his fists down at the ground. As earlier, with Takai, the earth opened up to swallow every single youja. As soon as he had replaced the earth to its original state, his armor burst into orange blossoms and fluttered about his feet as he headed over to the porch, smiling proudly.

Naste grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "Great, Shu!"

"Arigitou!" Shu cried, holding his hands up in a not-so-modest way.

Seiji shrugged and waved his hand carelessly. "I'd give it a seven." He smiled at Shu's confused face. "Not very classy."

Shu rolled his eyes then turned once again to Naste. "Naste, can we eat, please?"

"Matte(5), Shu." Ryo called, holding up his index finger.

"Why?" Shu whined, putting a hand to his gut. "Saving your butts makes me hungry!" Seiji whapped him on the head.

"We need to figure out what that attack was all about." Toma answered for him. He began to look suspisciously around. "That attack was strange."

Shu raised and eyebrow and placed his hands on his hips. "What was strange about it?"

Seiji rolled his eyes. "There's more to battles than fighting and winning, Shu." He crossed his arms and snorted a bit. "What were they after? That many youja… Takai knows we're tougher than that. So why'd he send so few?"

Shu sighed and submitted. "Fine. So what do we do about it?"

"Look around the yard for a bit to see if they left any types of clues leading to an ulterior motive. Naste, you look in the house and call me if you find anything strange." Naste commanded. The five spread out to their assigned tasks. Seiji and Toma began to search around the lake while Ryo headed for the front yard and Shu began examining the former battleground. Shu ran his eyes along the ground, admiring his handiwork of completely concealing the crack in the ground where he had created his fissure weapon. But, something caught his eye, gleaming in the sunlight.

"Nani?" Shu squatted down on his haunches to examine the dark object. He immediately backed up. One of the youja's knives had escaped his earthy entombment. It probably came from the Youja that attacked Seiji first. He kicked it and it must've dropped its knife. "Minna(6)!" he called into the sky. A few minutes passed, but soon all four Samurai were crowded around the knife. "Here's a clue for ya." Shu commented proudly.

Seiji gave a low rumble, then stooped to pick it up, but the minute the hilt touched his fingertips, he screamed and jumped back, holding his hand. "What the…!"

"Seiji, you alright?" Ryo inquired, stepping foreward.

"Ah. Just… don't touch that thing." Seiji bobbed his head at the weapon.

"Let me see your hand, Seiji." Toma offered, holding his own hand out. Seiji uncovered his fingers and allowed Toma to look them over. Toma's eyes narrowed. "They look like they've been burned by fire." He pointed out.

"What is in those knives that makes them so potent?" Seiji asked to no one in particular.

"Ryo-tachi(7)!" They heard Naste's voice calling from in the house.

Ryo, followed closely by the others, raced upstairs and into Shin's room. Naste stood over by Shin's bed holding a large rock. The window facing the back yard had been shattered, and many things in the room had been uprooted and flung in different directions. Seiji wandered over to the window while Shu ran to his childhood friend's side.

"Naste, is Shin alright?" He demanded, staring at his sleeping face.

"Ah. I don't think he even knows what happened. He doesn't have any physical wounds of any kind, luckily. But I found this rock right over here." She pointed to the pillow next to Shin's head. "Judging by the way the glass fell, I think they were aiming for him."

"Whoever threw the rock that is. But what would someone want with Shin?" Shu growled.

"I think our mystery rock-thrower was a youja." Seiji commented, plucking a piece of black cloth from the broken window.

"Really?" Naste inquired.

"Ah. There's no blood over here, and this piece of cloth is big enough that if it was ripped by the window, it would've broken the skin of a human." Seiji explained.

"So, the attack out there was a diversion for us. They were trying to do something in here without our knowledge." Toma realized.

"So… they're after Shin?" Ryo inquired quietly.

Silence filled the room.

Kitty-chan: Hey y'all. There's the second chapter! I hope you liked it! Review!

First order of business... translation.

1 Ohayo: Good morning
2 yoroi: armor
3 youja: demons; netherspirits
4 Busso... Kongo: Armor of ... the Stone
5 Matte: wait
6 Minna: Everyone
7 Ryo-tachi: Ryo and everyone (calling Ryo and everyone with him)

That's that... now the short preview!

The Empire will never be destroyed. The work of the Samurai Troopers will never be done.
"Gomen Nasai, minna. You were exposed because that reporter was interviewing me." Naste sighed sadly.
There's really not many things I can write that won't give away the purpose of the next chapter, so you'll have to wait until later. See ya! Rvview!