All reviews welcomed, but kindly lay off any obscene, profane, or distasteful comments.
Flames will be used to feed my pet dragon/muse.
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Replies to Reviewers:
blazingsunstar: Thanks for the review
Yana5: Thanks for the review. Oh, and the next chapter...now...
nekohebi: Thanks for the review and don't worry about Haku, he's only a little dazed thanks to his powers softening the impact.
digitude: Thanks for reviewing. Sorry you got confused, it was hard to keep everything straight and it even got me confused, that's why I had the note about it not making sense and telling me if it didn't.
Fire Kitsune Goddess: As I said to nekohebi, Haku's fine. He's just a little dazed from both the story and the throw. Thanks for the review
Erinamation-limited2-nothing: Thanks for the review and yes, I updated.
grrr: I'm working on it and this isn't the last chapter. I have big plans for this story.
Sydni Nelson a.k.a. Angel: Thanks for both of the long reviews. Okay about your two suggestions... First of all, it's gonna be a while before Haku and Rekou meet, let alone fight over Chihiro... Second, the closest thing that Haku and Sage have to really fighting it out will be training sessions. As I just said to grrr, I have big plans for this story. Oh and do keep on suggesting things, I can get writer's block easily.
kichpu: thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked that part of my story. I was a little afraid that it would sound stupid.
MidnightDragonShadow: thanks for the review. I wrote that chapter out on my computer, didn't like it, and rewrote it.
baka-onna2003: Thanks for the review. No, Cye is not the overprotective uncle-Sage is.
Reiko5: I used the American names for the Ronin Warriors because I am American and that's the way I saw the series. Also, I easily get the Japanese names mixed up. The only two I can keep straight are Seiji and Ryo and you can easily guess why.
LadyRainStarDragon: Thanks for the review. I checked out Chapter 6 and it seemed fine.
Dark Angel - The Doom: Thanks for the review. Hope you landed on something soft when you fell over. You seem to be in shock...is my story that bad?
Dagorwen of Ithilien: Thanks for the review. I update whenever I can.
endlessness( ) : Thanks for the review. I'm happy you like my story. Yes, there will be more chapters.
Fantasywriter13: I know it's been...forever...but I got a writer's block like you wouldn't believe! Oh, and thanks for the review.
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Mental speaking
"Speaking"
'Thought'
Chapter Nine
Chihiro was aware that her head was throbbing as she slowly came back to consciousness. She looked around the bedroom-unfamiliar as it were-wondering just where she was. The room was unfriendily as it could be; there were no doors, but there was a window way up by the ceiling and it had bars on it. The decor was blood red and pitch black-if it wasn't one color, it was the other-and there was a tapestry on the far end that showed black and red dragon fighting a familiar white and blue-green dragon.
"Where am I?"
"You are in my kingdom and, more specifically, in my castle."
Chihiro head swivled towards the source of the unexpected voice. Suddenly everything came flooding back to her, her true identity, her real mother, her twin brother, meeting Haku, getting kidnapped...getting kidnapped? She gasped when she saw who it was standing there. If evil had a form, he absolutely would have fit the bill.
The man standing before her had spikey, pitch black, hair and blood red eyes. He was wearing a black and red version of Haku's Bathhouse Work clothes. He smirked at Chihiro and when he smirked, fangs appeared at the corner of his mouth. He watched her like a hungry animal watches its prey's every move before pouncing.
"I am Rook," he started coldly, "And you are my prisoner."
"Prisoner!" Chihiro repeated with a growl, "No matter how long or how easily you think you can keep me here, I will escape!"
"Escape?" Rook replied with a chilling smirk, "Escape?"
It started with a low chuckle, but before Chihiro could catch onto what it was that was so funny, Rook was cackling evilly.
"No one escapes from me!"
He transformed into a pitch black dragon with a blood red mane and stood there, staring down at Chihiro with a smug look.
"Why are you doing this!" Chihiro asked out, secretly glad that the fear she felt inside did not reach her voice.
"Revenge!"
With another evil cackle, Rook transformed back and disappeared from the escapeless room with a POP, leaving Chihiro alone once again.
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"Chihiro," Sakura stated softly, "Ishakari is her real name, Chihiro is her human name, and Sen is the name she had when she worked in the Bathhouse. Rekou has gotten her and has probably taken her to Rook."
"Are you telling me that-" Sage stopped, growled in anger, and grabbed up Haku by his shirt collar, lifting him clean off the ground once more, "Even though you are a Protector of the Wind-Water Kingdom, you let Rekou kidnap my niece, Princess Ishakari!"
With that said, Sage tossed Haku into another wall, which was clear across the house, making him thud against it painfully. Cye and Ryo both winced, as Haku learned, the hard way, that Prince Sage was very protective of his family, especially of his long lost niece.
"Sage!" Sakura yelled, "He is an untrained Protector!"
"Untrained!" Sage replied and turned toward Sakura, "If he's untrained, then what has he been doing for all these years!"
"Surviving from day to day!" Sakura snapped back angrily, "One has to do that when they are alone, have amnesia, and homeless. Plus Yubaba scooped him up the moment he walked into her bathhouse, dazed, asking if anyone knew where he was or what he was! He knew only that his name was Kohaku River and nothing more! Yubaba grabbed him up and filled his head with lies!
"She told him that he was there to become her apprentice. She told him he had no family or friends and that he worked for her for free! She knew exactly who she had in her grasp and she wanted to extort that knowledge! She got Haku to sign the contract-with blood-by promising to help him get his memories back! The second she got him to sign the contract, he forgot his own name, and along with it, the memory of Yubaba's promise!"
"For all these years he's been alone! He's had no one to train him! He doesn't know any of the arts the Protectors used! Haku has been virtually, emotionally, separated from everyone else, for all these years! He didn't even know that he was the son of two Protectors-let alone one himself-until today!" Sakura yelled out in Haku's defense.
"What?" Ryo stated, disbelief written across his face, "That's impossible! I'm sure Crystal or Caine would have told and trained him in the ways of being a protector or at least shielded him from Yubaba's trickery!"
"What part of 'no one' don't you understand, Ryo!" Sakura yelled angrily, "He has no family left! NO ONE, GOT IT!"
"No one?" Ryo repeated, "No one at all?"
"None!" Sakura replied, still angry, "Crystal died from wounds given to her, by one of Rook's henchmen, while defending the Kingdom! Caine was killed as he tried to get to her! Don't you remember!"
At hearing the question, Ryo's suppressed memories-memories of seeing the slaughtered bodies of two of his best friends-broke loose. In his mind's eye, the two of them just lying there, facing each other, arms reached out, and hands intertwined-loving each other even in death. Seeing this grisly scene, once more, made Ryo lose the coloring in his face and nearly get sick on the floor.
Haku was so numbed, half from the pain he was in and half because of hearing how his parents had died, that he barely noticed a lone tear race down his own cheek. He was alone once more, metaphorically speaking, but still, he had no family left alive...or did he? Haku stopped his inner dialogue and raised his head up to look at Sakura.
"No one?" he asked, repeating her, "No grandparents? No aunts or uncles? No sisters, brothers, or cousins? Was my whole living family just made up of three single spirits?"
"No," Sakura replied softly, "Your entire family is dead."
"How?" Haku asked her, shocked.
"Well, you see"
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/Flashback of Major Proportions.../
A six-year-old boy, with bright green eyes and blonde hair, stared out across the sea of Rakash. He stared out at the sea with eyes filled with anger and resentment.
"Oh, Prince Sage!" he squealed in a fake, falsetto, voice, "You're so handsome, so brave, so smart!"
"Ugh," he groaned in his normal voice, "What a sick joke."
"I don't find it funny," a new voice replied, "That you make fun of the Prince when someone important could have overheard you."
He whipped around and sighed in relief when he saw that it was only Crystal.
"Never scare me like that Crystal!" he snapped out, "Especially not tonight of all nights!"
"What's so special about tonight?"
"It's the night that my entire family died!"
Crystal's face drained of color at this. "Your entire family died in one night?"
"Yeah," Caine replied with a sigh, "When I was five, there was a revolt-over what I don't remember-and my family were all slaughtered... I managed to survive because my mother hid me somewhere no one would look. When I came out of the hiding spot I saw the carnage that lay before me. My mother was decaptited, my father was quartered, my two sisters were raped and torn asunder, and my grandparents were hung."
"Oh, Caine, I had no idea," Crystal stated softly.
"No one does!" Caine snarled out, "No one does..."
Caine looked up at the stars.
"I want my family back..."
"I know I can never bring them back nor will I try to replace them," Crystal began, "But I can try and help you deal with the pain."
Caine never took his eyes off the stars. "Thanks."
Neither one noticed that Sakura had overheard the entire thing and that someone was Sakura.
/End of Flashback/
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Haku stared at Sakura in what could best be described as a madrid of emotions.
"The last time there was any mention of a revolt anywhere in one of the Kingdoms was a long time ago," Cye spoke out, "So when the peasants got tired of the King's rule and slaughtered the Protector and his entire family, save for his son, it was Caine's family?"
"Yes," Sakura replied softly.
Silence filled Zeniba's small cabin like a thick fog.
"So, does anyone have a plan?"
"A plan?" Ryo repeated, confused, "For what?"
"To rescue Ishakari!" Sakura raged out, "What else, genius?"
No one had an idea, not even Zeniba, so the five put their heads together to come up with something and fast...