The Ronins were relaxing. It was a rare day in winternot bitterly cold, nor snowing. The five were walking into town to do some "grocery shopping."
Actually, Mia just wanted them out of the house.
Ryo, whispered a beautiful, seductive voice in Ryo's mind, making him shiver and stop.
"Ryo?" Shin asked as he looked over his shoulder, then paused. He had never seen that expression on Ryo's face before. A mixture of anger, fear, and...hunger. "What's wrong?"
The others turned to look at what brought a note of such almost panicked concern in Shin's voice. Behind them, Ryo saw shadows solidify.
Ryo didn't stop to think. He transformed immediately and charged through them, and the enigma ducked expertly under Ryo's strokes, coming up from under him and his punch sending him flying back.
"Now why did you do that, my charming little firebug?"
The warrior's voice made Ryo's breath catch and send shivers down the other's spines. Ryo forced his concentration onto the situation.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!"
Ryo slipped into a fighting stance, the other Ronins having also called on their armors. The warrior looked them over approvingly.
"You truly are strong warriors," he said with a pleasant smile that quickly turned malign. "But I'm stronger."
The warrior extended his hand, and shadows formed around it, then into a staff, a blade...a scythe.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Shin murmured uneasily.
The warrior's eyes showed blatant amusement, having apparently heard Shin's remark.
"You should."
He moved faster than they thought was possibly for a person, Seiji barely having time to fend off the strike that instead of splitting him in two instead sent him flying into a nearby tree.
After the initial strike, a deadly, beautiful dance formed around the six warriors. As the battle unfolded, Ryo learned to respect the man as a warrior; not only because his fighting style was immaculate, but he also had a much longer range than any of them. Ryo was also alarmed to find that the warrior was wearing no armor, just subarmor.
Shu slid back, bracing himself on the ground, and snarled. "Iron Rock"
The warrior jammed the iron-shod point on the butt of his staff into Shu's stomach, breaking the armor, making Shu gasp blood, and sending him flying into a nearby stone wall. The warrior immediately swung his staff around and blocked Seiji's sword, throwing him off balance with a shove. Toma stepped a few paces back to get a clear shot, and as he loosed, the warrior elegantly sidestepped his arrow, then swiped Toma's feet from under him and with the side of his staff that had no blade cracked Toma's back, temporarily paralyzing him. He turned quickly on his heel and entangled his blade with Shin's yari. His smile was pure pleasure, making Shin balk. In that moment of hesitation, the warrior twisted hard on their weapons and Shin's arm muscles screamed as his yari was pulled out of his grip, and his helmet was sent flying along with his consciousness as the warrior's backswing caught Shin across the head. With elegant precision, the warrior broke both of Seiji's wrists before knocking him out. Ryo charged desperately and the warrior slammed his staff into him with enough force to embed him in a tree. As the world was spinning too fast for Ryo, the warrior walked languidly over to him and removed Ryo's helmet. The warrior reached out and gently wiped away the trickle of blood on Ryo's forehead as Ryo's eyes focused on him. Ryo gave a weak snarl and would have tried to find an escape route if the world hadn't been shifting so crazily beneath him.
"Ryo." The warrior's voice was a purr that caressed Ryo's senses, making him want to moan. The warrior's hand lightly traced the contours of Ryo's face before sliding down his neck and chest to settle over his heart. Black light gathered around his palm, and the armor shadowed by that hand began to darken from bright red to a dull, old-spilled blood color, slowly spreading. Ryo gasped. It burned cold on his chest, and he felt it begin to penetrate into his very soul. He could do nothing. He was lost in the warrior's deadly, entrancing eyes and his body ached. The warrior suddenly snarled and whirled, blocking Shu's attack. Shu was startled at the fathomless hatred in the warrior's eyes and stumbled backward, helped by a shove. Around him, he saw the other Ronins begin to get their feet back under themselves, and he snarled in frustration. The Ronin's shadows rose up and trapped them, pinning arms to sides and removing weapons. He looked over his shoulder at the now fiercely struggling Ryo and was please with the anger he saw in Ryo's eyes. He walked over so his face was a hair's breadth away from Ryo's, his lips lightly brushing Ryo's, his eyes boring into Ryo's soul, branding him.
"You will be mine."
Ryo's eyes were glassy and feverish, and he was panting. The warrior gave Ryo a ghost of a kiss, making Ryo shiver and crave more contact.
The warrior backed away smiling cruelly, kindly, and for a moment the Ronins were filled with a despair so deep that it seemed to steam from every memory, turning what had once been pleasure into pain. The warrior laughed and disappeared, and the Ronins were released from their shadows and his spell.
"Damn," Seiji muttered, and flexed his wrists, surprised to find that they were whole. Shin took off his helmet and winced. He was feeling nauseas from the headache that was making itself known.
"Doesn't pull his punches, does he?"
Shu examined his cracked armor and muttered darkly.
Toma slowly sat up, his whole body tingling. "Sheesh..."
"Ryo pulled himself out of the daze he always found himself in whenever he had been in contact with that frustrating, beautiful enigma and examined his armor. There was no obvious damage or discoloration, which confused him. Hadn't his armor been turning a different color? He realized someone, well, many someones, were calling his name.
"Ryo? Earth to Ryo," Shu said, waving his hand in front of Ryo's eyes. Ryo blinked, then swatted Shu's hand away.
"What?" He felt edgy. Like there was something else, someone else crawling into his skin.
"What did he do to you?" Toma asked, hobbling over, glad to be back on his feet.
Ryo looked down at his chest, searching for any indication of a darker red.
"He was changing the color of my armor. I felt so cold, but I was burning up from the inside." Ryo's armor glowed crimson, before he found himself back in civilian clothes. He winced, his body finally registering the abuse he had taken.
"Guys? can we forget about doing any shopping and just go home?"
Everyone agreed, and they turned around nursing wounded bodies and pride, lost in troubled thoughts.