Shadows on the Wall
Chapter Two
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Ronin Warriors.
As midnight fell, it found Sage Date sitting on his bed, still wide awake. His room was filled with candlelight from the vanilla-scented candles that he kept in his room, the flickering of the flame causing eerie shadows to cross his room.
He couldn't sleep, partly due to the fact that his reoccurring nightmares wouldn't let him sleep. They started two days ago, and since then, the blond Ronin's health had only gone downhill. He couldn't eat anymore, he'd lost a few pounds, and his skin tone was a lot paler than normal. Sage felt listless, unable to concentrate and unable to get the girl's face out of his mind. It constantly plagued him, and it had his family concerned. He felt foolish, like a young boy suffering from the nightmares of childhood, but he kept that to himself, merely lighting his candles at night. But their magic no longer worked to soothe his soul. He could still hear every sound from his dream, see the scenes flashing before his eyes like a bad movie.
In his mind, Sage could still see the girl's pained expression as the knife plunged into her flesh, could still hear the sickening sound of metal in flesh. He knew it had pierced her heart, for the blow had been meant to be fatal. There was no way he could forget the intense pain he saw in her eyes as he'd tried to heal her in the dream, only to have her turn him away. She hadn't wanted to be healed, as though she'd had enough pain and wanted no more. If Sage didn't know any better, he would have said that she'd been trying to die.
Shaking the images from his mind, Sage sat up in his bed, abandoning any thoughts of sleep. He crossed his legs and cleared his mind of thoughts, allowing the calm of meditation to come over him. Moments later, his senses tingled as the sound of something breaking somewhere on the floor below reached his ears. The hairs standing on the back of his neck told him that whatever was down there was sinister, but his feet began moving as if they had a mind of their own. Sage swung his legs over the side of the bed, taking a moment to adjust to the sudden movement before trying to stand.
As he made his way out of his room, Sage's hand instinctively went to the green orb that hung on a golden chain around his neck. The power that instantly zinged through his hand at the simple touch calmed his ruffled nerves, allowing him to continue. As he made his way down the stairs, clinging to the railing with white knuckles, the sound of breaking glass from the kitchen caused him to grit his teeth in irritation. The moment he reached the bottom of the stairs, Sage was struck by the intense aura of negativity emanated from whatever was in the kitchen. Whatever it was, he quickly decided, it did not belong in his home.
Sage had just about reached the kitchen when he was attacked from behind, the creature shoving him up roughly against the wall. At the very touch of the creature, the Ronin found himself unable to move. He cried out softly as whatever it was tried to ease its way into his mind, pain washing through him as his mental barriers were being knocked against. His mental defenses, however, had been honed over the years and were pretty strong against intruders. Finally, after a brief struggle, the thing let go, both mentally and physically. Once he was freed, Sage whirled around to catch a glimpse of a shadowy figure turning the corner and he let himself sink to the floor, visibly and mentally shaken by the encounter…
