Here's a chapter where we get to find out a bit more about characters and plot. Now, I'm not claiming great knowledge on any of the subjects I'm writing on here. However, I do know a bit, and there's also this fun thing called AU and creative licensing. ^.^;; It makes things interesting. If you really want to know why I wrote the things I did, stick around for further chapters and find out!
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
The Casting of Shadows
By Phoenix Cubed
Chapter 3 - Tides of War
*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Was it ever worth it?" Rowen looked up to the leafy treetops as he asked himself that question. After a moment's contemplation, he decided that it didn't matter, and never had. He, after all, was never given a choice about his--
No, not Destiny. Anything but that word. Anything but where that single thought could lead him. Rowen blew out a sigh and dropped his head to his book. It was his free period, and he had been given permission to spend it in the school's extensive gardens. Rowen liked the gardens; they offered a sense of peace that he had not felt in a very long time. Shaded dirt paths guided his mind and body through miniscule fields of flowers, sheltered belts of Sakura trees, and the intricate designs the horticulture students made of the brightly hued flora. There were several trees that were excellent for climbing and losing one's self in the safety of the broad limbs and leafy branches. They were so perfect, in fact, that he often lost track of the time, and if it weren't for the heightened senses of Halo, he would have found himself walking home.
His last hour teacher, Ms. Tenuia, didn't mind that he was absent from her class so much as she found the fact that he didn't do anything with his free time in his self proclaimed sanctuary distressing. Ms. Tenuia taught a class that brought out the artistic side of students, a required course for those in the higher learning situations. Rowen thought of Ms. Tenuia as his favorite teacher. Not because of her leniency for when he was late or forgot to show up entirely, but because she understood why he was late or would forget to show up. In the school garden, Rowen could find bits and pieces of a calm soul he had lost long ago, after the Fire had left him to rot with that drunken lecher of a foster father. Here, in the gardens, he could forget that he was part of the fine line between the mortal realm's ignorant peace and the dark forces that wished to cast a shadow over sun swept valleys and snow capped mountains. Here, in the gardens, Rowen could do what he did best: indulge in his given virtue and create. Rowen could become Life. Not only that, but he could put it to paper. His teacher had marveled time after time at the delicate watercolor painting he had brought in from this exact spot where he rested now. Once, he could have sworn a tear threatened her dignity when he had brought to her a piece of writing he had finished behind a newly placed shrubbery. The landscapers weren't entirely pleased, however. The looks he got from the horticulture department at times could have given the Sahara twelve years worth of snowstorms.
So it was understandable that Ms. Tenuia became upset when she learned that Rowen had elected to sleep or indulge in his latest novel craze over producing another piece of work that the landscapers could glare at him for. He chuckled slightly; Kento had enrolled in this semester's horticulture class, and had somehow managed to drag Cye in with him. Perhaps it would be worth the trouble when those two started dirtying their hands to do a few works for Ms. Tenuia. If anything, it would give the overbearing ruler of the rocks a better appreciation of how Rowen felt when Kento ribbed him for reciting a haiku poem for Mia-or, at least something to complain about if he couldn't wail about hunger.
Wailing. Unbidden, the thought retraced itself until his mind played for his ears the pitiful cries of the bird in his dreams. For the last week, that had been all he heard when he rested, the screams emitted from his dreams. He knew who the bird was, but he was using all his concentrated strength to ignore that fact. The Fire had abandoned him once, now he was doing the same to her. If she needed help, let her find it within her precious court, with her precious Tieran Yaw. She obviously valued all of them over his simple life, his little friends, and his backward world of wars and plagues. Whatever the Phoenix had preached about concerning the importance of the individual and whatnot, no longer applied to him. Rowen had cast aside anything he could when it came to her.
Except for Life. He would not, could not cast off Life.
Rowen shook his head. Hadn't he come out here to read? Flicking aside a leaf that had fallen onto the pages, he once again picked up the tale he was currently indulged in. The workings of Archimedes had proven more interesting than he had originally antic--
"Rowen!"
Hm? The blue haired boy looked up, someone had just called his name.
"Rowen, for pity's sake, get off that cloud and look down for once!"
Doing as the obviously annoyed voice directed, Rowen looked down to see Ryo looking up at him with swirling fire in his tiger blues.
"Hey Ryo, did you need something?"
The Ronin leader huffed and blew a stray lock of hair from his eyes. "More like someone. Final bell rang twenty minutes ago, Rowen. Kento is very ready to take off right now, with or without you."
Rowen shut his book and began to slide down from his place in the tree. "If Kento's driving, then it might not be such a bad thing if it's without."
Ryo rolled his eyes, "the stories we could tell. We can't get to the dojo on foot in ten minutes though, so we're gonna have to chance it with him."
Dark blue eyes blinked. "The dojo?"
"Yes Rowen, the dojo. Its Friday."
"Oh, no!" Enlightened Strata groaned. Rowen didn't feel like getting pummeled that day, and he knew what the conversation would be. "Please Ryo, tell 'em I'm sick, tell them I'm dying. But I BEG of you, don't make me go today!"
Ryo simply shook his head and grabbed his friend's collar as he fell from the tree, dragging him along behind on the way to the car that Sage was, very hesitantly, agreeing to let Kento drive. "Sorry bud, you skipped out on lessons last week. Trust me, one day, you'll thank me for this."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
"Oomph!"
The heavily padded gauntlet staff rammed into Rowen's stomach, sending the tall boy flying back into the wall. Cye smirked and twirled her makeshift trident expertly. "Anybody else?"
The remaining Ronins scooted back nervously, not wanting to be next on the smallest Ronin's hit list. Rowen sat up slightly and massaged his stomach. Shooting a glare to Ryo, he couldn't help but ask, "and exactly *when* will I be thanking you?"
The dark haired boy managed a sheepish grin before doing a desperate block at the sudden swing Cye sent towards his head. With a pair of wooden swords, he fought off the game attempts of Torrent to permanently indent his head. "Don't worry--" duck "--it'll come--sooner--" this time, Ryo let Cye give a light contact to his shoulder, feinting a hit, he dropped, but kicked out and took her legs out from under her and pinned her to the ground with a scissor maneuver of his swords. He looked to Rowen and grinned, "or later."
Not a moment after he had finished his smug sentence, Kento came up behind him with a daring charge and knocked his leader over, sending him straight for a loop and then some, until he ended up next to Rowen, massaging his head with a dazed look.
Sage allowed himself a brief smile, "I'd say I wouldn't hold my breath for that later part, Rowen."
"I wouldn't hold my breath at all!" Cye had quietly stood and collected her weapon to advance upon Sage. Her padded staff wielded expertly as she went for a daring thrust to his side. However, during practice, Sage let go of his normal inhibitions and allowed his keen sixth sense to control his movements. With an almost casual flick of his no datchi, Sage blocked Cye's attack, and with a firm move of his wrist, off-balanced the sinewy Ronin and prepared himself for the real attack.
Ryo picked himself up and began to circle the chosen warrior of light, Cye and Kento joining him. Weapons practice was completed when every participant had been taken down, or everyone acknowledged defeat to the reining champion. So far that day, everyone had gone down at least once but Sage. Ryo's cool tiger blues surveyed the situation carefully, two Ronins at his side, and one to take down. Small signals were given off and instantly obeyed by Cye and Kento; they had been through the routine before. Between the three of them, Ryo was the best at the planning. He flicked his eyes to where Rowen was. Sage, unsure of a feeling nagging inside of him, allowed a brief glimpse as to where Ryo might be looking.
That was a mistake.
With a ferocious yell, Kento charged at him, expertly swinging a long staff. The blow was meant for his shoulder area, but it was blocked by Sage's defensive swing. While distracted, Cye moved in with her own attack, only to have the blonde boy release a hand from his long sword and swing a calculated hit with his fist into Cye's stomach. However, with only two hands, Halo wasn't able to refuse the twin blades that came to hand him defeat. Forced to release his parry with Kento, Sage's long no datchi blocked the blows that would have surely left bruises on his fair skin. Ryo growled with frustration, but continued to attack with techniques long forgotten in the realm he currently called home. The defending warrior continued to ward off the three-sided attack aimed at him until a sudden volley of arrows came shooting from beyond their battle arena. An arrow hit every weapon, jarring the offending objects from the hands of the training warriors. Another volley came, this time aimed at the fighters themselves, until each of them were pressed tightly together in a cage of slender wood no more than two feet high.
Slowly, very slowly, the four looked up. It didn't pay to startle a person who could launch a full quiver of arrows faster than most people could blink. Rowen stood there, quietly, yet looking very satisfied, with a hard fashioned cedar bow and a cocked cherry wood arrow. He perked up an eyebrow at the remaining defender. "Give?"
Sage licked his lips, "sure, Robin, just don't shoot your merry men."
"Excuse me?"
He looked over, "oh, sorry Cye, would you accept merry band of law abiding bandits in stead?"
"As long as we're being politically correct."
Kento carefully stepped from the impromptu cage. "Somehow, I don't think it has the same ring to it."
Rowen smiled and relaxed his stance, "don't worry about it Kento, I ain't even English."
"And no grammar professor, either," Ryo joked as he began pulling the embedded arrows up from the practice mat. "All right guys, enough practice, we've got a half hour left for meditation, then Sensei Tencho is going to kick out butts out to the streets where we belong."
Kento made a face, "warm downs are so boring."
"Only because it doesn't involve your stomach," replied Cye, picking up the fallen weapons.
Rowen chuckled, but winced and held his hand to his own bruised torso, "he should be thankful it doesn't."
"Sorry 'bout that Rowen, didn't mean to hit you so hard."
Strata merely waved off his contrite comrade, "don't worry about it, I think we've all had worse."
"Speaking of worse," Sage sat down and folded himself into a meditative position. "Gather 'round boys and girls, we've got to talk."
The mess cleaned and breaths caught, the standing Ronins did as bidden. Rowen bit back a heavy sigh, Kento looked ready to fight off an attack of boredom, and Ryo and Cye sat quietly, expressionless and waiting for whatever might come.
"This," began Sage, "is not a topic any of us wants to cover, I know. Nevertheless, it's a point we need to press within ourselves and out. The Fire has made her presence known through Rowen's dreams, but only Rowen's dreams. Its been going on for two weeks now, and there's been no other sign of her. Studying the images I received the first time, and talking it over with Rowen, I think we can safely say that something is preventing her from coming to us--"
"Not that you'll hear me complaining about this." Rowen muttered softly to himself, but it was still heard by his friends.
Sage's one visible eye flicked briefly to his friend, "--but, we're not exactly sure what. I think that matter should be focused on. Also, lately, I've been getting some new vibes; I think you've all picked up on them. The concentrations are the heaviest at the school and didn't start until the beginning of the month, when those new students arrived. There are twenty new students, and out of those, nine are missing auras."
"Missing auras?" Kento blinked in confusion. "Is that possible?"
Ryo shrugged a bit, "it can be. Some people are just naturally nondescript. Their personalities aren't strong enough to give off enough energy to create an aura."
"Or if they're hiding it." Rowen added.
Cye looked shocked. "You can hide an aura?"
Rowen nodded. "It's very difficult, and only high energy magic users can usually pull it off. When I was at the Phoenix's home...the Nest, one my many teachers became bored and droned off the subject. He was an empath, like Sage, except much older, and much more experienced. He was also a step two wizard, so he had some knowledge on the subject, and asked me if I wanted my aura read. We got to talking, and I picked up some bits of information from him on that kinda thing."
"But why would you want to?"
"You've played hide-and-seek before, right Cye?"
Cye rolled her eyes, "hasn't everyone?"
"I'll bet you've never played hide-and-seek with someone who can find you just by the energy you've given off," replied Rowen. "The seeker doesn't even have to see you, he just closes his eyes and feels you out."
Ryo looked thoughtful, "but if you were hiding your aura, they wouldn't be able to find you, right?"
"Not by your aura at least. An aura is just the visible display of what you have. Hiding it means concealing any abilities and energies you might have."
Sage began to muse, "So what your saying is, we've got some people that are hiding their auras because they don't want to be found? But doesn't that make them conspicuous to us, turning it off so that they stand out?"
"Unless it's not us they're trying to hide from." Rowen looked very serious, his eyes becoming deep with the gravity of the concept he was trying to grasp.
"The Fire, maybe?" Kento asked, trying to contribute to the deep discussion.
Cye looked over, "why do you say that Kento?"
All eyes turned to the Mighty Hardrock, who was blushing slightly from the sudden attention. "Well, its just that, Rowen's been having those dreams, and we haven't seen her yet, so maybe, she's trying to find these guys before she comes and sees us, hoping we'll help her find them or something."
Rowen thought about that. It almost made sense, except for one small detail, the predators surrounding the bird in his dreams. What if...no. That was ridiculous. The Fire was a powerful being, and he had never seen her bested, by anyone. It just couldn't be possible that someone could be holding her back.
"Why not?"
The blue haired boy blinked, "what?"
Sage gave an exasperated sigh, "You could never be any other Ronin but Strata, Rowen. You said that she couldn't be beaten by anyone, I asked why."
"Oh," Rowen shook his head, had he spoken aloud? Oops. "Because she can't be. I know you guys have seen her through dreams and visions, but that's nothing compared to the real her. As much as I hate to admit it, she's powerful. She gave us our abilities, she's given countless other beings powers similar to ours, and she's never been diminished in any way. If there was someone stronger than her, or strong enough to subdue her, I would be very scared. There'd be no way to hide from a person like that."
Ryo cocked his eyebrow, "unless they were trying to hide."
Rowen shook his head, "she'd still be able to find them. There are other ways of finding people, even if they manage to block off their auras. If she wanted to find someone, she would have found them by now."
Kento's head was beginning to spin, "so is she the one that's hiding or seeking?"
"What if she's both?"
"Ryo?"
"Look, we know she's powerful, and if she wanted to do something, she'd do it. There shouldn't technically be anything to stop her, right? But that doesn't explain why she hasn't come to us, why there are those hyenas and crows in Rowen's dreams, and why there's an unusually large amount of people with invisible auras." The tiger eyed leader stopped for a breath, letting it out slowly. "So what if, maybe, just maybe, there's someone who does have an advantage over her, they're keeping her down right now, and she's trying to find help."
"That," began Rowen, "is possibly the scariest notion you have ever presented, Ryo."
"Could it happen though?"
"It's feasible, however, The Fire's got this huge court; seven personal guards that all have abilities very close to hers, a home guard that's larger than the population of earth, and" Rowen swallowed visibly, "not to mention, the Tieran Yaw."
Now Cye looked confused, "Tieran Yaw?"
The archer nodded, "in the Fire's world, everything must be balanced, including herself. So her Masters created the Tieran Yaw, or Dark Lord. He's got a nasty temper and a rather broody personality, but when it comes to the Phoenix, there isn't a thing that those two wouldn't do for each other. If the Fire were in trouble, there's nothing in existence that could stop him from helping her."
"Wow," Cye sounded impressed. "Did you ever meet him?"
"Oh no, I've heard stories though, and that's plenty for me. The nicest I've heard was about how he was holding a man off his feet who was three times his own size for not moving out of the Phoenix's way. The guy might have been dead now, but the Fire stopped him. She doesn't like killing."
"Interesting concept."
"Very."
A knock came to the dojo practice room door, and a head peeked in. "Hey guys, its seven thirty. Tencho needs the dojo."
The five Ronins stood as the head disappeared through the doorframe. "Well, that was productive." Kento grinned, "Now we can get some food!"
Groans filled the air, and Kento yelped and dove through the door as three arrows followed hot on his feet.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"*Can* we get some food?"
"Kento!" Cye took aim for Kento's head and swatted him as they left the dojo to the parking lot.
"What?"
Ryo gave him an exasperated look. "Can't you think of anything besides food?"
"Of course I can." Kento replied, rubbing the tender spot where Cye had managed to catch him. "I just don't like to."
Sage rolled his eyes at Kento, but sympathized with him all the same. "Maybe we should grab something to eat, just to save Mia cooking time."
Rowen reached the car first. "And what if she's already cooking?"
"We could call her."
"But what if she's sleeping?"
"Rowen!"
Blue hair whipped as the boy ducked the onslaught of bags aimed at his head. "Just running over possible scenarios."
After their school bags and training gear were stowed in the car. Sage shut the trunk and pocketed the keys. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a walk down to Vila's. They make pretty fast pizza."
"And tasty too!" Kento's eyes shined like stars at the possibility of food. "Can we Ryo? Please, please!"
Ryo smiled. He had never believed that he would be, or could be, the leader that the other four saw him as. But when such easy decisions were asked of him, who was he to toss it off? "Sure Kento, Vila's it is!"
"Whoopee!" Kento jumped in the air, then grabbed Cye's wrist and sped off towards the pizza parlor. "Come on, Cye, I'm hungry!"
"I hadn't noticed!"
Ryo laughed along with Sage and Rowen before sprinting off after the two. "Last one to Vila's is a Dynasty husk soldier!"
Rowen and Sage exchanged looks. Then Rowen stooped into a bow and smiled, "after you."
Sage crossed his arms; "you're only doing that because you can beat Kento there."
"I know, so hurry it along, I'm hungry."
The blonde shrugged, "fine," and sped off before his friend could complete his mannerly maneuver.
Rowen blinked, he didn't actually think Sage would do that. Picking up his own feet, Rowen extended his stride and began to gain on his friends, who were already several yards ahead. His feet eating the ground, Rowen easily caught up to and passed Sage, who had been even with Ryo, and then set his sites on the dashing duo. Kento was still dragging Cye, who looked like a rag doll flailing in the wind, and was putting most of her energy into keeping on her feet. Rowen laughed into the wind at the sight. Kento could be very fast when he wanted to.
But not fast enough. With yet another burst of speed, Rowen caught Cye, who was looking rather winded, and slowly inched up to Kento. Out of the corner of his eye, Kento saw his blue friend coming. Growling, Hardrock increased his speed, with the cries of "no!" coming from his reluctant marathon partner. Ignoring that, Rowen and Kento ran even for a few moments, before Rowen gradually began to pull away, taking the lead with him.
"Never!" Kento released his hold on Cye and threw himself at Rowen. "The pizza's MINE!" Strong arms found hold at Rowen's waist as the two Ronins went down in a tangled heap of limbs and concrete. Cye, still moving forward from Kento's momentum, joined the pile in an undignified stop as she came crashing into them.
"Who-whoa!" Sage, who had almost caught up, managed to stop just in time before he added himself to the now stewing Ronins. However, Ryo, though not far behind, hadn't witnessed the fall of the first two of his friends, and had only a split second before seeing Sage stop before he crashed into the still wobbling Halo and sent them both to join the flailing Ronins on the ground.
"Kento!"
"I wanted the pizza!"
"Ow! Sage, take your elbow from my eye!"
"Guys, get off me!"
Twisted arms and legs flew about the air as the five sorted out what part belonged to which body. Finally, Cye managed to pull herself from the pile and watch the boys. She chuckled--they looked so funny!
"Yes...charming."
The bickering stopped immediately as five heads turned to greet the new voice and, as it turned out, people. A small group had formed to watch the tussle, and the Ronins recognized the newcomers. They were a band of new students from their high school. Cye blinked and stood up as she put a name to one of the faces. It was the boy from her Chemistry class. Jamten, he called himself. The sole female of the Ronins backed up slightly. This was one person Cye could not be friendly with; there was nothing there to trust.
Ryo and the others picked themselves up quickly, embarrassed to be caught in such an odd position. Ryo gave a sheepish expression and waved a greeting. "Hi guys, sorry about that."
Jamten nodded slowly, "apology accepted. What are you doing here?"
Sage frowned slightly, that was an odd thing to say. He felt a sudden twinge from within him. Sage began to feel Cye's sudden nervousness towards the newcomers. There was something wrong with these people. What other explanation could there be if Cye was feeling uncomfortable?
Ryo continued to converse with the classmates, but his tone had become slightly guarded, as if noticing the same feelings Cye and Sage had. "We were going for a pizza," he paused to grab Kento's collar, who was trying to sneak in unnoticed. "You guys want to join us?"
A few people further back snorted, as if the suggestion had been placed on a list of ridiculous things they had heard that day. Jamten glanced back slowly, raising his eyebrow at his companions, before returning his look to the met group. "No, thank you. Italian doesn't agree with us."
Kento stopped pulling away from Ryo to look at the new comers. There were seven of them, counting Jamten, all new students. Jamten he knew by reputation, Cye had told him briefly of her experience with Professor Naiso's odd behavior, and the three new students in her chemistry class. Looking beyond him, a set of twins flanked either side of Jamten, identical down to the last cell on their pretty faces. Two were beyond the twins, forming an odd triangle. All five looked as if they smelled something distasteful. Kento wanted to copy their look; he saw something distasteful.
Cye recognized the stance Kento was taking on. He was inches from going all out Hardrock. She stepped up slightly, "easy, big boy."
The twin on the left giggled, green eyes sparkling maliciously. "Big boy? He certainly seems to be, doesn't he Kaori?"
Kaori, apparently the twin on the right, mirrored her sister. "Very." She slunk from her position beside Jamten to approach Kento, circling him with an appraising look. With a graceful maneuver, she slid her hips between Cye's small frame and Kento's muscular torso and pushed. Cye was sent sprawling into Rowen and Kento was put into an unsteady rock, forcing him to lean into Kaori or fall to the ground once more. She supported him easily, her hands sliding up his forearms to squeeze his well-developed shoulders. "And so strong, don't you think, Melanie?"
"Hmm."
While Kento stood in a confused stupor, Cye had recovered enough to shrug off Rowen's support and push her way back to the exploring twin. She was about to forcibly separate them when a hand descended on her shoulder; she looked to see Ryo shaking his head, quietly telling her to hold back. He turned to Jamten, "we don't want any trouble, Jamten. Could you call your friend off?"
Jamten lifted his lips into a frosty semblance of a smile. "I could, yes."
Melanie, the left twin, had begun to prowl about the Ronins as well, eyeing Sage as one would a well-done side of roast, or mignon. The two that had once stood behind the twins were now closely on either side of Jamten, obviously enjoying the show. Briefly taking his eyes from the prowling Melanie, Sage noticed two standing off to the side, away from Jamten and the rest. His eyes narrowed, one was Fillip, who was openly smirking at Sage's predicament. He opened the channels of his abilities full way, and was astounded.
None of Jamten's group held an aura.
Rowen watched as Sage's visible eye widened considerably. Grey violet eyes were now the color of sleet while his normal inhibitions were released. He watched as his blonde friend dodged a swipe from a twin's pinching fingers without even looking. Sage was focused intently on the group they had run into, with all the energy he could produce without his kanji orb to act as a locus to his power. Rowen stepped between him and the circling twin, providing cover so that Sage could concentrate on whatever he deemed so worthy of his full empathic abilities.
Melanie's face puckered into a sweet pout, but the wickedness never left her eyes. "Don't you want to play with us?"
Rowen crossed his arms in front of his chest, "no."
Melanie laughed, "pity."
A drop of water fell and landed on Rowen's shoulder. A moment later, another followed, hitting him square on the head. Rain. It was beginning to rain, of all the lousy luck. Rowen wanted to finish this. He grabbed the twin's hands as Melanie went for another swipe to Sage's back end. "That's enough playing. Get back to your pack."
Her green eyes flashed, "pack?"
Lightning suddenly split the sky in half, and the following thunder was deafening. The clouds opened up and the rain began in earnest, drenching the unfortunates that were out in the downpour. To his left, he heard a yelp as he saw Cye slip from Ryo's grasp and forcibly separate Kento and Kaori, sending the twin to the ground with a hard thump.
Kaori wiped water from her eyes and looked at Cye, enraged. "Why you," she snarled at the small Ronin, "I'll get you-"
"Kaori. Melanie. That's enough." Jamten's voice cut through the sloshing rain and tension. The twins turned to him as if to protest, but closed their mouths and went to him without saying a word. The look floating on his face explained their submissiveness. A silent storm of his own raged upon his steady features. The fight before him was already forgotten; he was concentrating on something else entirely.
Rowen released his grip on Melanie, keeping her away from Sage, who was still staring out with his senses. Following Sage's line of vision, Rowen made out the image of a sandy haired boy who stared straight back at Sage, locked in a fight beyond any level of physical feeling. Rowen looked back and forth between the two until a shape slightly behind the other boy attracted his notice.
The girl was almost hidden by the rain, she was so slight. Pale blonde hair was plastered thickly to her skull as her hands wrapped around her shivering torso. Rowen blinked, the girl was too thin to be out in such weather without more protection than that small shirt and shredded pants.
Lightning cracked again, showering the sky with light for a brief instant. The girl started and looked swiftly up to the sky, and then to the fighting group she was with, then to Rowen, meeting his eyes.
No. Rowen took a step back. It couldn't be--
The girl suddenly wrenched her eyes away and disappeared into the rain. The sandy haired boy had broken his lock with Sage and had ripped her away so fast that Sage nearly toppled into Rowen for a second time. Rowen recovered before they fell to the soaked concrete. They steadied each other for a moment before looking up to the retreating forms of Jamten and his small posse.
Sage, still psychically active, felt an odd energy burning. What should have been a passive connection with his Halo armor and all the others was pulsing with unspent rage. Torrent was in a very rare form. He looked to Cye, who was still fuming with her run in against Kaori. The retreating twins were still visible in the rain, "Cye-"
Too late. Her pupils dilated and disappeared briefly as emerald irises consumed her eyes. A puddle of collecting rainwater in the gutter suddenly flooded gastronomically and flew from its running and onto the sidewalk, splashing the retreating back of Kaori. The twin shrieked and briefly turned around to hiss a farewell to the warrior of Torrent.
"We're not through yet, small one."
Cye stood defiantly. "I'll be waiting."
Kaori hissed one last time before disappearing in the shadows of the rain and thunderous lightning.
Kento watched until the seven could no longer be seen. "I knew there was a reason I don't make you mad, Cye."
"Quiet Kento," Cye snapped, her eyes still flashing.
Ryo chuckled slightly, "someone's in the doghouse." But Ryo's eyes were swirling with fire. He had stayed out of the fight as best he could, though he had reigned in his troops very little. If Ryo had started to fight, there would have been no turning back until only one group was left standing. Wildfire still wanted to think of Jamten and his 'friends' as civilians, mortals. Kids who were looking for kicks on a boring school weekend. Nothing that was worth the wrath of Wildfire and the other armors.
That was the second time he had barely been able to suppress the wild urges to fight with his inner fire. Something was wrong.
"Rowen?"
"Right here, Ryo."
"Sage?"
Sage stood there a moment, still recovering from his own fight. None of the others had seen it, though they might have felt small twinges. Fillip, that sandy haired boy, and his friends were more powerful than they had any right to be.
"What are you thinkin' Sage?"
The blonde broke from his reverie. "I'm thinking we're in deep, Ryo. Let's get home."
Ryo nodded, "we'll talk about this later then. Out of the rain."
With that, the five slipped between the raindrops-food long forgotten and worries well collected.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Hope you like it! Tell me if you want more!
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
The Casting of Shadows
By Phoenix Cubed
Chapter 3 - Tides of War
*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Was it ever worth it?" Rowen looked up to the leafy treetops as he asked himself that question. After a moment's contemplation, he decided that it didn't matter, and never had. He, after all, was never given a choice about his--
No, not Destiny. Anything but that word. Anything but where that single thought could lead him. Rowen blew out a sigh and dropped his head to his book. It was his free period, and he had been given permission to spend it in the school's extensive gardens. Rowen liked the gardens; they offered a sense of peace that he had not felt in a very long time. Shaded dirt paths guided his mind and body through miniscule fields of flowers, sheltered belts of Sakura trees, and the intricate designs the horticulture students made of the brightly hued flora. There were several trees that were excellent for climbing and losing one's self in the safety of the broad limbs and leafy branches. They were so perfect, in fact, that he often lost track of the time, and if it weren't for the heightened senses of Halo, he would have found himself walking home.
His last hour teacher, Ms. Tenuia, didn't mind that he was absent from her class so much as she found the fact that he didn't do anything with his free time in his self proclaimed sanctuary distressing. Ms. Tenuia taught a class that brought out the artistic side of students, a required course for those in the higher learning situations. Rowen thought of Ms. Tenuia as his favorite teacher. Not because of her leniency for when he was late or forgot to show up entirely, but because she understood why he was late or would forget to show up. In the school garden, Rowen could find bits and pieces of a calm soul he had lost long ago, after the Fire had left him to rot with that drunken lecher of a foster father. Here, in the gardens, he could forget that he was part of the fine line between the mortal realm's ignorant peace and the dark forces that wished to cast a shadow over sun swept valleys and snow capped mountains. Here, in the gardens, Rowen could do what he did best: indulge in his given virtue and create. Rowen could become Life. Not only that, but he could put it to paper. His teacher had marveled time after time at the delicate watercolor painting he had brought in from this exact spot where he rested now. Once, he could have sworn a tear threatened her dignity when he had brought to her a piece of writing he had finished behind a newly placed shrubbery. The landscapers weren't entirely pleased, however. The looks he got from the horticulture department at times could have given the Sahara twelve years worth of snowstorms.
So it was understandable that Ms. Tenuia became upset when she learned that Rowen had elected to sleep or indulge in his latest novel craze over producing another piece of work that the landscapers could glare at him for. He chuckled slightly; Kento had enrolled in this semester's horticulture class, and had somehow managed to drag Cye in with him. Perhaps it would be worth the trouble when those two started dirtying their hands to do a few works for Ms. Tenuia. If anything, it would give the overbearing ruler of the rocks a better appreciation of how Rowen felt when Kento ribbed him for reciting a haiku poem for Mia-or, at least something to complain about if he couldn't wail about hunger.
Wailing. Unbidden, the thought retraced itself until his mind played for his ears the pitiful cries of the bird in his dreams. For the last week, that had been all he heard when he rested, the screams emitted from his dreams. He knew who the bird was, but he was using all his concentrated strength to ignore that fact. The Fire had abandoned him once, now he was doing the same to her. If she needed help, let her find it within her precious court, with her precious Tieran Yaw. She obviously valued all of them over his simple life, his little friends, and his backward world of wars and plagues. Whatever the Phoenix had preached about concerning the importance of the individual and whatnot, no longer applied to him. Rowen had cast aside anything he could when it came to her.
Except for Life. He would not, could not cast off Life.
Rowen shook his head. Hadn't he come out here to read? Flicking aside a leaf that had fallen onto the pages, he once again picked up the tale he was currently indulged in. The workings of Archimedes had proven more interesting than he had originally antic--
"Rowen!"
Hm? The blue haired boy looked up, someone had just called his name.
"Rowen, for pity's sake, get off that cloud and look down for once!"
Doing as the obviously annoyed voice directed, Rowen looked down to see Ryo looking up at him with swirling fire in his tiger blues.
"Hey Ryo, did you need something?"
The Ronin leader huffed and blew a stray lock of hair from his eyes. "More like someone. Final bell rang twenty minutes ago, Rowen. Kento is very ready to take off right now, with or without you."
Rowen shut his book and began to slide down from his place in the tree. "If Kento's driving, then it might not be such a bad thing if it's without."
Ryo rolled his eyes, "the stories we could tell. We can't get to the dojo on foot in ten minutes though, so we're gonna have to chance it with him."
Dark blue eyes blinked. "The dojo?"
"Yes Rowen, the dojo. Its Friday."
"Oh, no!" Enlightened Strata groaned. Rowen didn't feel like getting pummeled that day, and he knew what the conversation would be. "Please Ryo, tell 'em I'm sick, tell them I'm dying. But I BEG of you, don't make me go today!"
Ryo simply shook his head and grabbed his friend's collar as he fell from the tree, dragging him along behind on the way to the car that Sage was, very hesitantly, agreeing to let Kento drive. "Sorry bud, you skipped out on lessons last week. Trust me, one day, you'll thank me for this."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
"Oomph!"
The heavily padded gauntlet staff rammed into Rowen's stomach, sending the tall boy flying back into the wall. Cye smirked and twirled her makeshift trident expertly. "Anybody else?"
The remaining Ronins scooted back nervously, not wanting to be next on the smallest Ronin's hit list. Rowen sat up slightly and massaged his stomach. Shooting a glare to Ryo, he couldn't help but ask, "and exactly *when* will I be thanking you?"
The dark haired boy managed a sheepish grin before doing a desperate block at the sudden swing Cye sent towards his head. With a pair of wooden swords, he fought off the game attempts of Torrent to permanently indent his head. "Don't worry--" duck "--it'll come--sooner--" this time, Ryo let Cye give a light contact to his shoulder, feinting a hit, he dropped, but kicked out and took her legs out from under her and pinned her to the ground with a scissor maneuver of his swords. He looked to Rowen and grinned, "or later."
Not a moment after he had finished his smug sentence, Kento came up behind him with a daring charge and knocked his leader over, sending him straight for a loop and then some, until he ended up next to Rowen, massaging his head with a dazed look.
Sage allowed himself a brief smile, "I'd say I wouldn't hold my breath for that later part, Rowen."
"I wouldn't hold my breath at all!" Cye had quietly stood and collected her weapon to advance upon Sage. Her padded staff wielded expertly as she went for a daring thrust to his side. However, during practice, Sage let go of his normal inhibitions and allowed his keen sixth sense to control his movements. With an almost casual flick of his no datchi, Sage blocked Cye's attack, and with a firm move of his wrist, off-balanced the sinewy Ronin and prepared himself for the real attack.
Ryo picked himself up and began to circle the chosen warrior of light, Cye and Kento joining him. Weapons practice was completed when every participant had been taken down, or everyone acknowledged defeat to the reining champion. So far that day, everyone had gone down at least once but Sage. Ryo's cool tiger blues surveyed the situation carefully, two Ronins at his side, and one to take down. Small signals were given off and instantly obeyed by Cye and Kento; they had been through the routine before. Between the three of them, Ryo was the best at the planning. He flicked his eyes to where Rowen was. Sage, unsure of a feeling nagging inside of him, allowed a brief glimpse as to where Ryo might be looking.
That was a mistake.
With a ferocious yell, Kento charged at him, expertly swinging a long staff. The blow was meant for his shoulder area, but it was blocked by Sage's defensive swing. While distracted, Cye moved in with her own attack, only to have the blonde boy release a hand from his long sword and swing a calculated hit with his fist into Cye's stomach. However, with only two hands, Halo wasn't able to refuse the twin blades that came to hand him defeat. Forced to release his parry with Kento, Sage's long no datchi blocked the blows that would have surely left bruises on his fair skin. Ryo growled with frustration, but continued to attack with techniques long forgotten in the realm he currently called home. The defending warrior continued to ward off the three-sided attack aimed at him until a sudden volley of arrows came shooting from beyond their battle arena. An arrow hit every weapon, jarring the offending objects from the hands of the training warriors. Another volley came, this time aimed at the fighters themselves, until each of them were pressed tightly together in a cage of slender wood no more than two feet high.
Slowly, very slowly, the four looked up. It didn't pay to startle a person who could launch a full quiver of arrows faster than most people could blink. Rowen stood there, quietly, yet looking very satisfied, with a hard fashioned cedar bow and a cocked cherry wood arrow. He perked up an eyebrow at the remaining defender. "Give?"
Sage licked his lips, "sure, Robin, just don't shoot your merry men."
"Excuse me?"
He looked over, "oh, sorry Cye, would you accept merry band of law abiding bandits in stead?"
"As long as we're being politically correct."
Kento carefully stepped from the impromptu cage. "Somehow, I don't think it has the same ring to it."
Rowen smiled and relaxed his stance, "don't worry about it Kento, I ain't even English."
"And no grammar professor, either," Ryo joked as he began pulling the embedded arrows up from the practice mat. "All right guys, enough practice, we've got a half hour left for meditation, then Sensei Tencho is going to kick out butts out to the streets where we belong."
Kento made a face, "warm downs are so boring."
"Only because it doesn't involve your stomach," replied Cye, picking up the fallen weapons.
Rowen chuckled, but winced and held his hand to his own bruised torso, "he should be thankful it doesn't."
"Sorry 'bout that Rowen, didn't mean to hit you so hard."
Strata merely waved off his contrite comrade, "don't worry about it, I think we've all had worse."
"Speaking of worse," Sage sat down and folded himself into a meditative position. "Gather 'round boys and girls, we've got to talk."
The mess cleaned and breaths caught, the standing Ronins did as bidden. Rowen bit back a heavy sigh, Kento looked ready to fight off an attack of boredom, and Ryo and Cye sat quietly, expressionless and waiting for whatever might come.
"This," began Sage, "is not a topic any of us wants to cover, I know. Nevertheless, it's a point we need to press within ourselves and out. The Fire has made her presence known through Rowen's dreams, but only Rowen's dreams. Its been going on for two weeks now, and there's been no other sign of her. Studying the images I received the first time, and talking it over with Rowen, I think we can safely say that something is preventing her from coming to us--"
"Not that you'll hear me complaining about this." Rowen muttered softly to himself, but it was still heard by his friends.
Sage's one visible eye flicked briefly to his friend, "--but, we're not exactly sure what. I think that matter should be focused on. Also, lately, I've been getting some new vibes; I think you've all picked up on them. The concentrations are the heaviest at the school and didn't start until the beginning of the month, when those new students arrived. There are twenty new students, and out of those, nine are missing auras."
"Missing auras?" Kento blinked in confusion. "Is that possible?"
Ryo shrugged a bit, "it can be. Some people are just naturally nondescript. Their personalities aren't strong enough to give off enough energy to create an aura."
"Or if they're hiding it." Rowen added.
Cye looked shocked. "You can hide an aura?"
Rowen nodded. "It's very difficult, and only high energy magic users can usually pull it off. When I was at the Phoenix's home...the Nest, one my many teachers became bored and droned off the subject. He was an empath, like Sage, except much older, and much more experienced. He was also a step two wizard, so he had some knowledge on the subject, and asked me if I wanted my aura read. We got to talking, and I picked up some bits of information from him on that kinda thing."
"But why would you want to?"
"You've played hide-and-seek before, right Cye?"
Cye rolled her eyes, "hasn't everyone?"
"I'll bet you've never played hide-and-seek with someone who can find you just by the energy you've given off," replied Rowen. "The seeker doesn't even have to see you, he just closes his eyes and feels you out."
Ryo looked thoughtful, "but if you were hiding your aura, they wouldn't be able to find you, right?"
"Not by your aura at least. An aura is just the visible display of what you have. Hiding it means concealing any abilities and energies you might have."
Sage began to muse, "So what your saying is, we've got some people that are hiding their auras because they don't want to be found? But doesn't that make them conspicuous to us, turning it off so that they stand out?"
"Unless it's not us they're trying to hide from." Rowen looked very serious, his eyes becoming deep with the gravity of the concept he was trying to grasp.
"The Fire, maybe?" Kento asked, trying to contribute to the deep discussion.
Cye looked over, "why do you say that Kento?"
All eyes turned to the Mighty Hardrock, who was blushing slightly from the sudden attention. "Well, its just that, Rowen's been having those dreams, and we haven't seen her yet, so maybe, she's trying to find these guys before she comes and sees us, hoping we'll help her find them or something."
Rowen thought about that. It almost made sense, except for one small detail, the predators surrounding the bird in his dreams. What if...no. That was ridiculous. The Fire was a powerful being, and he had never seen her bested, by anyone. It just couldn't be possible that someone could be holding her back.
"Why not?"
The blue haired boy blinked, "what?"
Sage gave an exasperated sigh, "You could never be any other Ronin but Strata, Rowen. You said that she couldn't be beaten by anyone, I asked why."
"Oh," Rowen shook his head, had he spoken aloud? Oops. "Because she can't be. I know you guys have seen her through dreams and visions, but that's nothing compared to the real her. As much as I hate to admit it, she's powerful. She gave us our abilities, she's given countless other beings powers similar to ours, and she's never been diminished in any way. If there was someone stronger than her, or strong enough to subdue her, I would be very scared. There'd be no way to hide from a person like that."
Ryo cocked his eyebrow, "unless they were trying to hide."
Rowen shook his head, "she'd still be able to find them. There are other ways of finding people, even if they manage to block off their auras. If she wanted to find someone, she would have found them by now."
Kento's head was beginning to spin, "so is she the one that's hiding or seeking?"
"What if she's both?"
"Ryo?"
"Look, we know she's powerful, and if she wanted to do something, she'd do it. There shouldn't technically be anything to stop her, right? But that doesn't explain why she hasn't come to us, why there are those hyenas and crows in Rowen's dreams, and why there's an unusually large amount of people with invisible auras." The tiger eyed leader stopped for a breath, letting it out slowly. "So what if, maybe, just maybe, there's someone who does have an advantage over her, they're keeping her down right now, and she's trying to find help."
"That," began Rowen, "is possibly the scariest notion you have ever presented, Ryo."
"Could it happen though?"
"It's feasible, however, The Fire's got this huge court; seven personal guards that all have abilities very close to hers, a home guard that's larger than the population of earth, and" Rowen swallowed visibly, "not to mention, the Tieran Yaw."
Now Cye looked confused, "Tieran Yaw?"
The archer nodded, "in the Fire's world, everything must be balanced, including herself. So her Masters created the Tieran Yaw, or Dark Lord. He's got a nasty temper and a rather broody personality, but when it comes to the Phoenix, there isn't a thing that those two wouldn't do for each other. If the Fire were in trouble, there's nothing in existence that could stop him from helping her."
"Wow," Cye sounded impressed. "Did you ever meet him?"
"Oh no, I've heard stories though, and that's plenty for me. The nicest I've heard was about how he was holding a man off his feet who was three times his own size for not moving out of the Phoenix's way. The guy might have been dead now, but the Fire stopped him. She doesn't like killing."
"Interesting concept."
"Very."
A knock came to the dojo practice room door, and a head peeked in. "Hey guys, its seven thirty. Tencho needs the dojo."
The five Ronins stood as the head disappeared through the doorframe. "Well, that was productive." Kento grinned, "Now we can get some food!"
Groans filled the air, and Kento yelped and dove through the door as three arrows followed hot on his feet.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"*Can* we get some food?"
"Kento!" Cye took aim for Kento's head and swatted him as they left the dojo to the parking lot.
"What?"
Ryo gave him an exasperated look. "Can't you think of anything besides food?"
"Of course I can." Kento replied, rubbing the tender spot where Cye had managed to catch him. "I just don't like to."
Sage rolled his eyes at Kento, but sympathized with him all the same. "Maybe we should grab something to eat, just to save Mia cooking time."
Rowen reached the car first. "And what if she's already cooking?"
"We could call her."
"But what if she's sleeping?"
"Rowen!"
Blue hair whipped as the boy ducked the onslaught of bags aimed at his head. "Just running over possible scenarios."
After their school bags and training gear were stowed in the car. Sage shut the trunk and pocketed the keys. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a walk down to Vila's. They make pretty fast pizza."
"And tasty too!" Kento's eyes shined like stars at the possibility of food. "Can we Ryo? Please, please!"
Ryo smiled. He had never believed that he would be, or could be, the leader that the other four saw him as. But when such easy decisions were asked of him, who was he to toss it off? "Sure Kento, Vila's it is!"
"Whoopee!" Kento jumped in the air, then grabbed Cye's wrist and sped off towards the pizza parlor. "Come on, Cye, I'm hungry!"
"I hadn't noticed!"
Ryo laughed along with Sage and Rowen before sprinting off after the two. "Last one to Vila's is a Dynasty husk soldier!"
Rowen and Sage exchanged looks. Then Rowen stooped into a bow and smiled, "after you."
Sage crossed his arms; "you're only doing that because you can beat Kento there."
"I know, so hurry it along, I'm hungry."
The blonde shrugged, "fine," and sped off before his friend could complete his mannerly maneuver.
Rowen blinked, he didn't actually think Sage would do that. Picking up his own feet, Rowen extended his stride and began to gain on his friends, who were already several yards ahead. His feet eating the ground, Rowen easily caught up to and passed Sage, who had been even with Ryo, and then set his sites on the dashing duo. Kento was still dragging Cye, who looked like a rag doll flailing in the wind, and was putting most of her energy into keeping on her feet. Rowen laughed into the wind at the sight. Kento could be very fast when he wanted to.
But not fast enough. With yet another burst of speed, Rowen caught Cye, who was looking rather winded, and slowly inched up to Kento. Out of the corner of his eye, Kento saw his blue friend coming. Growling, Hardrock increased his speed, with the cries of "no!" coming from his reluctant marathon partner. Ignoring that, Rowen and Kento ran even for a few moments, before Rowen gradually began to pull away, taking the lead with him.
"Never!" Kento released his hold on Cye and threw himself at Rowen. "The pizza's MINE!" Strong arms found hold at Rowen's waist as the two Ronins went down in a tangled heap of limbs and concrete. Cye, still moving forward from Kento's momentum, joined the pile in an undignified stop as she came crashing into them.
"Who-whoa!" Sage, who had almost caught up, managed to stop just in time before he added himself to the now stewing Ronins. However, Ryo, though not far behind, hadn't witnessed the fall of the first two of his friends, and had only a split second before seeing Sage stop before he crashed into the still wobbling Halo and sent them both to join the flailing Ronins on the ground.
"Kento!"
"I wanted the pizza!"
"Ow! Sage, take your elbow from my eye!"
"Guys, get off me!"
Twisted arms and legs flew about the air as the five sorted out what part belonged to which body. Finally, Cye managed to pull herself from the pile and watch the boys. She chuckled--they looked so funny!
"Yes...charming."
The bickering stopped immediately as five heads turned to greet the new voice and, as it turned out, people. A small group had formed to watch the tussle, and the Ronins recognized the newcomers. They were a band of new students from their high school. Cye blinked and stood up as she put a name to one of the faces. It was the boy from her Chemistry class. Jamten, he called himself. The sole female of the Ronins backed up slightly. This was one person Cye could not be friendly with; there was nothing there to trust.
Ryo and the others picked themselves up quickly, embarrassed to be caught in such an odd position. Ryo gave a sheepish expression and waved a greeting. "Hi guys, sorry about that."
Jamten nodded slowly, "apology accepted. What are you doing here?"
Sage frowned slightly, that was an odd thing to say. He felt a sudden twinge from within him. Sage began to feel Cye's sudden nervousness towards the newcomers. There was something wrong with these people. What other explanation could there be if Cye was feeling uncomfortable?
Ryo continued to converse with the classmates, but his tone had become slightly guarded, as if noticing the same feelings Cye and Sage had. "We were going for a pizza," he paused to grab Kento's collar, who was trying to sneak in unnoticed. "You guys want to join us?"
A few people further back snorted, as if the suggestion had been placed on a list of ridiculous things they had heard that day. Jamten glanced back slowly, raising his eyebrow at his companions, before returning his look to the met group. "No, thank you. Italian doesn't agree with us."
Kento stopped pulling away from Ryo to look at the new comers. There were seven of them, counting Jamten, all new students. Jamten he knew by reputation, Cye had told him briefly of her experience with Professor Naiso's odd behavior, and the three new students in her chemistry class. Looking beyond him, a set of twins flanked either side of Jamten, identical down to the last cell on their pretty faces. Two were beyond the twins, forming an odd triangle. All five looked as if they smelled something distasteful. Kento wanted to copy their look; he saw something distasteful.
Cye recognized the stance Kento was taking on. He was inches from going all out Hardrock. She stepped up slightly, "easy, big boy."
The twin on the left giggled, green eyes sparkling maliciously. "Big boy? He certainly seems to be, doesn't he Kaori?"
Kaori, apparently the twin on the right, mirrored her sister. "Very." She slunk from her position beside Jamten to approach Kento, circling him with an appraising look. With a graceful maneuver, she slid her hips between Cye's small frame and Kento's muscular torso and pushed. Cye was sent sprawling into Rowen and Kento was put into an unsteady rock, forcing him to lean into Kaori or fall to the ground once more. She supported him easily, her hands sliding up his forearms to squeeze his well-developed shoulders. "And so strong, don't you think, Melanie?"
"Hmm."
While Kento stood in a confused stupor, Cye had recovered enough to shrug off Rowen's support and push her way back to the exploring twin. She was about to forcibly separate them when a hand descended on her shoulder; she looked to see Ryo shaking his head, quietly telling her to hold back. He turned to Jamten, "we don't want any trouble, Jamten. Could you call your friend off?"
Jamten lifted his lips into a frosty semblance of a smile. "I could, yes."
Melanie, the left twin, had begun to prowl about the Ronins as well, eyeing Sage as one would a well-done side of roast, or mignon. The two that had once stood behind the twins were now closely on either side of Jamten, obviously enjoying the show. Briefly taking his eyes from the prowling Melanie, Sage noticed two standing off to the side, away from Jamten and the rest. His eyes narrowed, one was Fillip, who was openly smirking at Sage's predicament. He opened the channels of his abilities full way, and was astounded.
None of Jamten's group held an aura.
Rowen watched as Sage's visible eye widened considerably. Grey violet eyes were now the color of sleet while his normal inhibitions were released. He watched as his blonde friend dodged a swipe from a twin's pinching fingers without even looking. Sage was focused intently on the group they had run into, with all the energy he could produce without his kanji orb to act as a locus to his power. Rowen stepped between him and the circling twin, providing cover so that Sage could concentrate on whatever he deemed so worthy of his full empathic abilities.
Melanie's face puckered into a sweet pout, but the wickedness never left her eyes. "Don't you want to play with us?"
Rowen crossed his arms in front of his chest, "no."
Melanie laughed, "pity."
A drop of water fell and landed on Rowen's shoulder. A moment later, another followed, hitting him square on the head. Rain. It was beginning to rain, of all the lousy luck. Rowen wanted to finish this. He grabbed the twin's hands as Melanie went for another swipe to Sage's back end. "That's enough playing. Get back to your pack."
Her green eyes flashed, "pack?"
Lightning suddenly split the sky in half, and the following thunder was deafening. The clouds opened up and the rain began in earnest, drenching the unfortunates that were out in the downpour. To his left, he heard a yelp as he saw Cye slip from Ryo's grasp and forcibly separate Kento and Kaori, sending the twin to the ground with a hard thump.
Kaori wiped water from her eyes and looked at Cye, enraged. "Why you," she snarled at the small Ronin, "I'll get you-"
"Kaori. Melanie. That's enough." Jamten's voice cut through the sloshing rain and tension. The twins turned to him as if to protest, but closed their mouths and went to him without saying a word. The look floating on his face explained their submissiveness. A silent storm of his own raged upon his steady features. The fight before him was already forgotten; he was concentrating on something else entirely.
Rowen released his grip on Melanie, keeping her away from Sage, who was still staring out with his senses. Following Sage's line of vision, Rowen made out the image of a sandy haired boy who stared straight back at Sage, locked in a fight beyond any level of physical feeling. Rowen looked back and forth between the two until a shape slightly behind the other boy attracted his notice.
The girl was almost hidden by the rain, she was so slight. Pale blonde hair was plastered thickly to her skull as her hands wrapped around her shivering torso. Rowen blinked, the girl was too thin to be out in such weather without more protection than that small shirt and shredded pants.
Lightning cracked again, showering the sky with light for a brief instant. The girl started and looked swiftly up to the sky, and then to the fighting group she was with, then to Rowen, meeting his eyes.
No. Rowen took a step back. It couldn't be--
The girl suddenly wrenched her eyes away and disappeared into the rain. The sandy haired boy had broken his lock with Sage and had ripped her away so fast that Sage nearly toppled into Rowen for a second time. Rowen recovered before they fell to the soaked concrete. They steadied each other for a moment before looking up to the retreating forms of Jamten and his small posse.
Sage, still psychically active, felt an odd energy burning. What should have been a passive connection with his Halo armor and all the others was pulsing with unspent rage. Torrent was in a very rare form. He looked to Cye, who was still fuming with her run in against Kaori. The retreating twins were still visible in the rain, "Cye-"
Too late. Her pupils dilated and disappeared briefly as emerald irises consumed her eyes. A puddle of collecting rainwater in the gutter suddenly flooded gastronomically and flew from its running and onto the sidewalk, splashing the retreating back of Kaori. The twin shrieked and briefly turned around to hiss a farewell to the warrior of Torrent.
"We're not through yet, small one."
Cye stood defiantly. "I'll be waiting."
Kaori hissed one last time before disappearing in the shadows of the rain and thunderous lightning.
Kento watched until the seven could no longer be seen. "I knew there was a reason I don't make you mad, Cye."
"Quiet Kento," Cye snapped, her eyes still flashing.
Ryo chuckled slightly, "someone's in the doghouse." But Ryo's eyes were swirling with fire. He had stayed out of the fight as best he could, though he had reigned in his troops very little. If Ryo had started to fight, there would have been no turning back until only one group was left standing. Wildfire still wanted to think of Jamten and his 'friends' as civilians, mortals. Kids who were looking for kicks on a boring school weekend. Nothing that was worth the wrath of Wildfire and the other armors.
That was the second time he had barely been able to suppress the wild urges to fight with his inner fire. Something was wrong.
"Rowen?"
"Right here, Ryo."
"Sage?"
Sage stood there a moment, still recovering from his own fight. None of the others had seen it, though they might have felt small twinges. Fillip, that sandy haired boy, and his friends were more powerful than they had any right to be.
"What are you thinkin' Sage?"
The blonde broke from his reverie. "I'm thinking we're in deep, Ryo. Let's get home."
Ryo nodded, "we'll talk about this later then. Out of the rain."
With that, the five slipped between the raindrops-food long forgotten and worries well collected.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Hope you like it! Tell me if you want more!