A/N: Hello everyone! I love this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ronin Warriors...unfortunately.

A Fine Line Between Love and Hate
KiahWMConnie
Chapter Seven: Grocery Shopping

"Rhoonnnda..." a woman's voice softly called, "Come heeere."

Rhonda slowly opened here eyes, "Who-who's there?"

"It's me..."

Rhonda didn't know who she was, who the voice belonged to. However, it seem so familiar.

"Listen to me..." the voice directed, "...Stay with it. Don't give up."

"Huh...?"

"RHONDA!"

She snapped awake.

"Get up and get down here! You're gonna be late for school," Liz was yelling at her.

Lying in her bed, Rhonda whimpered.


The day had passed relatively uneventful, except for the little incident in P.E. Maria and she caused a little raucous with the whole cherrybomb-in-the-snotty-cheerleader's-locker gag.

Just outside of the school, Rhonda enjoyed the small breeze winding around her pale rose locks. She almost got lost in the calming moment, until...

"Rhonda!" a familiar, irritating voice called.

'Why?'

She gritted her teeth and turned around. If looks could kill...

She said slowly, "What do you want, Hashiba?"

He blinked a few times and huffed, "We were supposed to do that store thing today."

Rhonda mentally kicked herself. How could she forget? Damn it...

She sighed, "Fine. Let's get this over with," She turned and began walking towards the store. Thank goodness it wasn't very far away.

They were completely silent on the way there; Rowen always a few steps behind Rhonda. She was very uncomfortable with it...always feeling watched, like he was staring at her or something. She was relieved when the sliding doors opened.

When Rowen saw that Rhonda was just standing and glancing around, he decided to do what he came for.

"Hey, where are you going?" Rhonda asked when he got a basket.

"My dad's not home right now, I might as well get some food."

Rhonda was confused by his explaination, but decided to follow him. She was completely silent as she watched him throw miscellaneous items into the basket. He seemed pretty independent for himself. He tossed in a bag of cookies.

"You know those are bad for your health, right?"

Rowen turned around smugly, "I'm sorry," he chuckled sarcastically, "I've never been the type who really gives a damn about that stuff."

Rhonda rolled her eyes. As a few minutes went by, a thought came to her mind, 'Why doesn't his mom get the groceries? He said something about his dad not being home or something. Hmm...'

"Did you hear me?"

Rhonda snapped out of her thoughts.

"Oh, never mind," Rowen grumbled, "I forgot you don't listen to anyone."

"Excuse, me! What is your problem?" she bit back at him.

Rowen chuckled, "My problem? You're the one who treats others like dirt!"

"All men are dirt," she barely whispered while gritting her teeth. Rowen caught the remark.

"Okay, hold up! Do you hate all guys or just me in particular?"

Rhonda glared for a moment, then sneered, "Both."

She stomped off, out of the produce section as Rowen looked on in disbelief and anger. He found her several minutes later in an unoccupied aisle.

"So," he directed at her, "Is this where all the hags hang out?"

Rhonda immediatly whipped around, "Why don't you just go die in your room or something?" she whispered to herself, giving him the evil eye.

Rowen didn't seem to hear it. He turned and began to walk away, but not before muttering under his breath.

"Bitch."

Rhonda heard and was instantly filled with rage. How...dare he?

"BANG!"

Rowen was suddenly on the floor with a lump on his head. He shook his head and looked up in time to see an orange rolling across the floor in front of him. He got up and turned around.

"Where'd the orange come from!" he shouted.

"I borrowed it from the produce section," an cold, cruel smile came to her face, "Thought I might use it for later use...and once again, I was right."

Rowen's pupils narrowed slightly.


"Hello?" Cye answered his phone.

"CYE!" Maria yelled on the opposite end.

"Hi, Maria," Cye smiled.

"HOLY FRAPPIN' CRAP! Did you hear that Ro and Rhon went to the store today?"

"Oh, really?" He laughed.

"Ya! They should be there now."

"I'll be sure to read about it in the papers tomorrow," he joked.

"You really don't think they'll survive 'till summer?"

"I don't think they'll survive the project, let alone the rest of the school year."

"You wanna bet?" Maria asked in low, daring voice.

Cye didn't care for that tone of voice, he rarely did.

"What do you mean?" he asked warily.

Maria chuckled, "I'll bet you five bucks that they'll 180 before either of them are dead."

He laughed out loud, as did she. Of course, she wasn't serious about it.

"Fine, I'll go with your little bet."

Again, they both shared a hearty laugh.


The two had drawn quite a crowd. They continued to yell and hurl insults at each other.

"Excuse me," a woman whispered in her cell phone, "You might want to get security down here."

"I hope your heart gets crushed!"

"Okay, listen up, Pinky-"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Smurf? Don't call me Pinky!"

Rowen grabbed a nearby bottle of whipped cream, "How'd you like for that pink hair to be all white?" he treatened as he walked forward.

"You wouldn't dare."

In less than a second, Rowen had the cap off and was spraying it mercilessly in her hair. Rhonda began screaming. She grabbed the nearest thing she could find. Flour? Eh, it'd do.

Rowen, waist-up, was suddenly a ghostly white. They both grabbed whatever they could find and threw it at the enemy. There was a massive cloud of food in aisle 10. It was a horrible food fight.

Scratch that. A food fight is an event where rebellious people throw food at each other, all while having fun. This was no "fun". This was a battle. A food fight to the death.

Rowen had the upper hand. He was able to throw things repeatedly without having to break, much to the anger and frustration of Rhonda.

'Heh, guess shooting all those arrows in the Dynasty can come in handy sometimes,' he thought.

It was like a massacre. Both gave their all; they would not be defeated by the other. Pride controlled the battle.

Before either of them knew it, they both felt strong hands on their shoulders. After much kicking and screaming(mostly by Rhonda), they both wound up on the ground outside of the store.

'We got thrown out!' Rhonda thought, covered in food, 'I don't believe it! It's all because of him.'

"Well, that went well!" Rowen dusted off some of the leftover flour.

Rhonda jolted up and began to stomp off.

"Hey! Whaddya know?" Rowen's sarcastic humor kicked in, "We stayed in there for the whole, required time!"

She stopped in her tracks, her fist was tightly clenched.

"I hate you!" she screamed at him. Venom dripped from her voice, "I hate everything about you! I never want to see you again. I don't want to spend anymore time with you than I absolutely have to. GOODBYE!" she ran off to her house.


Her pace had slowed to a walk; it was starting to get dark. She could still feel the cream in her hair.

Her forehead wrinkled, 'This is the second time he's covered me in food.'


Rowen was restless that night. As he tossed and turned, Rhonda's words kept playing over and over again in his head. How could one person have so much hate in their heart? He just didn't understand it. He was also extremely enraged at her actions. True, Rowen fought back...and kinda beat her, but still, she was the one who started it! If she only knew who she was dealing with.

'Come on, Ro! She's just some stupid American. You shouldn't let her get to you. You are the bearer of the Armor of Strata! You could wipe her out in just a second.'

That was certainly true. He sadistically smiled as he imagined himself in the armor. He would be flying and shooting at a running, screaming Rhonda. Not actually killing her...just scaring the bejeezus out of her.

But still, the events of the day bothered the devil out of him. For once, Rowen was unable to sleep.

'I'll be sure to get back at her for this.'


A/N: Sorry it's been such a long time, but it's finally here. I hope that scene of the food fight wasn't confusing or anything. Again, I'm really sorry about the delay. I've had a lot of stress lately about the other fics onthis site and some other projects(namely school and my mangas). On top of that, I've been having some trouble with my dad. So please understand if this fic is put on hold for a little while in the future.

Good news, however: SCHOOL'S ALMOST OUT! Whoopah! Only about five or six more weeks. I'll be in Washington DC sometime in May. If anyone's there, look for me! I'll be the crazy tourist.