Shadows on the Wall
Chapter Ten
Disclaimer: I do not own the Sailor Scouts or the Ronin Warriors. The only thing that belongs to me is this story, which I really am proud of!
(A/N: Thank you, those who reviewed this story. I LOVE receiving reviews, so thank you very much! At any rate, this story is developing beautifully, wouldn't you say? Things are going to get much more complicated for both Mina and Sage, and that's all I'm going to say! evil grin And no, Sage is not going to kill Mina. That would be rude of me to do that to her. But, things will happen, and I won't say another word. You're all just going to have to read the story and find out what's going to happen.
Again, thank you for reading this story!)
Mina was still groggy when she woke the next morning, surprisingly early. Ok, so it was only like ten o'clock in the morning, but with her current schedule, ten o'clock was early.
By the time she made her way into the kitchen, Rowen was already awake, and obviously trying to cook, judging from the smell of burning food wafting in from the kitchen. Apparently, inability to cook ran in the family. Half afraid of how Rowen would react to the whole situation from the night before, Mina hurried into the kitchen and pounced on Rowen, stealing the spatula from him.
"You can't cook any better than I can," she announced gleefully with a wicked gleam in her eyes.
Instead of replying, Rowen snatched the spatula from Mina and stuck his tongue out at her. "So what if I can't cook?" He demanded, looking comical with his hands on his hips with the spatula in hand.
Chuckling, Mina shook her head, secretly relieved that he didn't bring her situation up. She didn't need anymore stress than she already had. "Why bother cooking if you know you can't cook?" She countered with a sly look in her eyes. She went over to the fridge and pulled out microwavable Eggo waffles, watching Rowen's expression become humorously frustrated.
Laughing, she laid a hand on his shoulder. "I was just kidding, Ro." Mina raised her hands defensively as Ro stalked towards her, obviously planning on doing something horrendous, like tickle her. With Rowen, she was never sure what he was going to do. The blond-haired Scout took off at a dead run with Rowen right behind her, but their fun was spoiled when the doorbell rang.
Somehow, Mina had the feeling that she knew who was at the door and that she didn't want to know why they were here. But it was too late. Rowen had already started for the door, and who was Mina to stop him from answering his own door? That wouldn't be very guest-like, that was for sure.
"Hi, is Mina here?"
After muttering his reply, Rowen stuck his head into the living room from behind the wall that separated the hall from the living room. "Mina, there's people here to see you!"
Moving cautiously, Mina went to the front door, smiling as her eyes took in the small group of four girls that stood clustered in front of the doorway. She wasn't surprised by their reaction at all; they were girls after all, and it was perfectly natural for girls to shriek.
"Mina!" They chorused, all hugging her at once. Lita, of course, tugged her r ight off her feet and hugged her. For the next few minutes, there was so much chatter that Mina couldn't really tell who was speaking, but she was deliriously happy that her friends were there that they didn't really care. The only one who didn't seem happy was Rei, who acted as though she didn't want to be there. She looked as though she didn't even want to be there.
"Guys," Mina laughed, prying herself slightly away from them, "why don't you come in? Rowen and I were just making breakfast.."
She was interrupted by shouts of laughter; Mina's inability to cook was almost famous, such as the time she tried to nurse a few of the Scouts back to health. Needless to say, she was quite inept at cooking or anything involving a stove or oven, unless she was supervised by Lita.
After ushering Ami, Lita, Rei, and Serena inside the apartment, Mina had just barely introduced them to Rowen when the doorbell rang. Again, Rowen went to the door, but there were no shouts of greeting, no laughter. As a matter of fact, Mina was sure who it was this time. There was no mistaking that serious energy that surrounded the enigma she knew as Sage.
As the blond Ronin was ushered inside and introduced to the rest of the girls, a tense silence followed his introduction, mostly on Rei's part. She looked as though she were ready to kill someone, as though she didn't trust anyone she met from Toyoma. Obviously, she had seen something in the fire at her grandfather's temple that caused her great distrust of those Mina had met while staying in Toyoma, but Mina would have none of it.
She cleared her throat, wanting to send a message to her friends without alerting Rowen that something was happening. "Girls, Sage and I know each other from somewhere, although we can't remember where."
The cold look Sage sent in her direction could've frozen ice, but Mina ignored it. She saw understanding dawning on the Scouts' faces, even a tiny bit on Rei's, indicating that she was at least interested.
"We appear to have met somewhere before, but neither of us can recall exactly when or where."
All of the girls, Mina included, was surprised when Sage spoke up, also without alerting Rowen to anything, although she was sure the quiet boy regretted it. Rowen was his best friend, after all, and he hated keeping things from him. Mina completely understood that, though.
Rei glared at him with an icy expression, the only one that didn't look at Sage in a new light. "I see," she stated coldly and, for a moment, Mina was sure that the Rei that stood before her now was not the Rei she knew. Sure, Rei tended to be suspicious, but not that suspicious. It was time to steer the subject to a more upbeat one.
"Yea," Mina remarked with a smile. "I saw him at the pool not too long ago and I knew that I'd seen him somewhere before. It was uncanny how that worked out, so we're just racking our brains to find out where we'd met."
Talk about subliminal messages. The Scouts could easily read between the lines and Mina watched as their eyes widened in surprise before the other three turned to Sage. "How exciting!" Ami exclaimed. "Here and I thought we already knew everyone that Mina had known."
All the while, Rowen was starting to become suspicious, but Mina had already known that he was going to be. He was smart, after all. The conversation completely stopped as a loud hiss came from the room Mina had been staying in, much to Mina's dismay. She was sure that something was happening in that room that she didn't want to know about, but she couldn't just leave Artemis in the room.
Quickly, all of them hurried to the room and Mina, being the first one to reach the room, flung the door open so hard that it bounced off the walls a few times. At once, everyone was blinded by the light that emanated from the room, and when it faded seconds later, a man stood there. He had long, white hair that was almost as long as Mina's, if not longer, and his intelligent blue eyes gave him away, along with the moon symbol on his forehead. It was none other than Artemis. Clutching the wall for support, Mina nearly collapsed.
The room was in shambles, Mina's things mixed in with Rowen's as though someone had been going through their things, but what really had Mina nervous was the scratch marks that decorated the wall. They looked exactly like the one on the door from the night before, and Mina groaned aloud, covering her face.
"Mina, is there anything we can do to help?"
Turning to face Lita with tears in her eyes, Mina shook her head. "No," she whispered dejectedly, ignoring Artemis for the moment, although Rowen and Sage were both staring at him uneasily. Still, they said nothing, and that really helped. "There's nothing you can do to help."
There was an uneasy silence for a few minutes before Serena spoke. "I think we'd better be going," she muttered uneasily, seeing the look that Rowen shot at Mina. It told everyone in the room that he had suspected that there was more to the story than what Mina had told him, and the condition of the room she was using confirmed his suspicions. Of course, Rowen was aware that there might be something that she was not going to tell him, under any circumstances, but he wanted to know more than what she'd told him.
Mina didn't accompany her friends to the door, knowing they could see themselves out and that they understood what was happening. She groaned again, wondering how on earth she'd managed to get herself into this mess. Has she really thought that she could keep her secrets with everything that was happening? Somehow, deep in her soul, Mina had known that she couldn't do it. Anyone in their right mind would get suspicious after everything that was happening.
"I shall be on my way now."
Rowen grabbed his friend's arm as he turned to leave, shaking his head. Mina felt her heart sink. He knew that Sage was involved somehow, but what could they tell him? Certainly not the truth; sometimes, a lie was more easily digested than the truth. How could things have gotten so out of hand?
"No, you're staying here until we get this straightened out." From the calm tone of voice Rowen used, Mina knew he was furious, and he had every right to be. After all, her staying there was only getting him into trouble while she was practically sinking in it. She watched as he turned to her, eyes blazing. "We have to talk." Sparing a glance at Sage, Mina sighed, knowing what he was going to say.
"All of us."
Artemis, whom everyone had forgotten in the tension, stepped forward, placing his pale hands reassuringly on Mina's shoulders. Rowen's eyes instantly moved to him, pursing his lips. "And who might you be?"
Artemis, suddenly a gentleman, bowed respectively. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Artemis, Mina's guardian and companion."
Even as she turned Red, Mina was entertaining thoughts of strangling Artemis. He was digging her hole even deeper than she had already dug it, and that wasn't helping any. Rowen, she could tell, was getting more and more suspicious by the minute, and it appeared to her that Sage was studying Artemis closely. One look in his eyes, Mina knew, and they would probably know exactly who he was. There was no mistaking those intelligent blue eyes, or the moon symbol on his forehead. That was a dead give-away.
"Into the living room, all of you," Rowen ordered pointing to the living room even as his eyes swept over his room one last time before following them in….
