Actors Wanted
Pledges and Promises
(Day 22)
By: Little Ucchan

There are few moments in a boy's life that can be considered purely blissful. And if you happened to be a Ronin warrior, those moments were few and far between. And if you happened to be Sage, take that number and reduce it to a fourth.

But at the moment, when left alone to his bath that Laura had kindly prepared for him, he felt bliss. He felt it because absolutely nothing was on his mind. Just bubbles, steam, and the calming lap of water against his skin.

Then there was a knock on the door, and the only female voice in their group filtered to his ears. "You alright?" Laura asked.

For a moment, he contemplated whether or not him staying silent would equate to a 'yes.' "M'fine," he spoke at last, a bit amused that his voice was a bit slurred. Hot baths were good for the body. Hot baths and bubbles. He'd have to remember to ask Laura what she'd put in here. It was doing wonders. "Why?"

"The rest of the guys are here," she announced. "We're just waiting on you."

For the record, the average feeling of bliss lasts for five seconds or less.

Sage laid still, thinking. If you asked what, the list would have been enormous. But all of them were important; all of which he'd been trying to escape from since he had left the battlefield. He peered through the light haze of steam to the fresh set of clothes folded neatly on top of Cye's laundry hamper while his had a run through the washer. They were dirty from his tumble through the street. So were Laura's, but Cye didn't have women's clothes in his closet. At least to his knowledge.

He unplugged the drain and got out of the tub, water dripping down his body to the floor drain. He dried himself with a towel, all the while thinking, wondering if what he was about to do was right. After he dried his hair and started to dress, he paused while buckling his borrowed pants, the legs an inch shorter than what he was used to, and said quietly, "Can they hear me?"

There was a pause on the other end of the door, and then a soft, "No."

"I need a favor."

She didn't say anything, but Sage felt she was listening. With a deep breath, he finished with his pants and slid on his dress shirt, "Don't question me tonight." He started to button his shirt, remembered that Laura would still want to check his back, then stopped and waited. There was no reply. "Laura?"

There was still no reply.

He stepped cautiously to the door and leaned his ear to it.

He nearly fell backwards when three large knocks banged against the door and resounded in his ear, followed by a really, painfully familiar voice. "Geez, Sage! You ain't going on a date! How long does it take you to get dressed?"

Kento.

Sage took a very deep breath and rolled his eyes skyward. Though tempting, he decided against being sarcastic and just opened the door.

The bearer of Hardrock was standing on the other side, looking very irritable if it weren't for the slight smile that played across his lips when he saw Sage. "I thought you'd be missing an arm," he said, looking the swordsman up and down to find that he was almost unscathed. Just almost.

"You know I'm not that easy to kill," came the automatic reply, and for the first time since they'd been greeting each other after battles in this fashion, his words sounded hollow. Sage brushed past Kento, hoping his friend didn't notice.

Ryo and Laura were seated next to each other at the dining table, each with a cup of tea sitting in front of them. Rowen had seated himself at the small island counter that helped box in the kitchen, and Cye was busy pouring hot water in the remaining cups. He noted, as he took a seat across from Laura, that the ninja girl flicked her gaze up to him. She cast a glance at Kento as he sat down next to Sage and then sipped her tea. He hadn't felt anything from her in that short exchange, but he knew she had heard his request and that it didn't settle well with her. The fact that she had not gotten up to check on his burns was testimony enough.

"How's your back, Sage?" Ryo asked over the rim of his mug, sharp eyes making the same inspection over Sage's health as Kento had done earlier.

"I think it's alright now," he speculated, flexing his back experimentally. "I don't feel any pain. And Cye said the burns were gone."

Laura still had not gotten up or acknowledged this. Surprisingly, Cye, when coming up to Sage and Kento's side of the table to set their cups of tea in front of them, didn't confirm Sage's statement either.

"So," Rowen began, drumming his fingers against his mug when the most obvious people present did not start the conversation. "Would anyone like to tell us what's going on?"

"Hey, I just got called here," Kento said, though he knew Rowen was not pointing a finger at him. Like the archer, he was starting to get tired of being left out of the lot of things. "Seems to me Sage needs a bodyguard. What with how many demonic battles he's been attracting as of late."

"Go flash your armor in front of the enemy," Sage answered a bit irritably. "I'm sure you'll have your fair share of battles then."

"Maybe I would," Kento snapped back. "If I ever see the enemy."

"You guys," Ryo warned. "Don't start."

"Yeah," Rowen agreed. "We've got enough on our plate, what with Cye possibly having a rune and us still not knowing what's going on."

Conversation at the table stopped. Cye, who had been behind the island counter drinking his tea, promptly spit it out into the sink.

Laura placed a heavy head against her raised palm. "Rowen…"

"Might as well start with the heart of the matter," he reasoned.

"Waitwaitwait!" Kento held out his hands in front of him. "Cye has a what?"

"A rune."

"We think it's a rune," Laura corrected pointedly. "There's no proof."

"Um, you guys."

"I think there is. Since neither of you make speculations without some credible source already in place."

"That would have been a nice compliment, Sage, but right now it's a real bother."

"Hey, you guys—"

"What is your problem?"

"Like you don't know already?"

"Here we go again…"

"Hey, love birds. Keep your quarreling down to a minimum."

"Excuse me?"

"GUYS!"

Ryo sighed in exasperation once he had everyone's attention and gestured towards the door. "Cye's gone."

"…What?" Kento asked after a disbelieving moment, looking first at the slightly open front door and then to the strangely vacant kitchen. "What do you mean he's gone?"

"He just up and left." Ryo leveled a hard glare at the lot of them. "Anyone here like to explain why they're so testy?"

The air no longer held the tension of before, the thrown around pride, or the defensiveness. Now what hovered in the air was guilt, and tired, naked truth.

Sage sighed and ran a hand through damp, blonde hair. "Some of us don't have enough breathing space," he answered.

"While others of us have too much," Rowen finished, chewing on his bottom lip. He let it go. "And we still don't know what's going on. Even though we did gain some ground this weekend, it's not enough. And all of us are feeling it.

"We need to know who's running things, and why. If we can't gain even one step towards that, then there's no point in what we're doing. We're just wasting our time running in circles."

"But, Ro, we can't get that info." Kento kneaded his fingers together. "I think I've mentioned this before, but these demons aren't exactly capture and torture material. They'd die before telling us anything."

"The small fry, anyway."

Ryo raised an eyebrow at the archer. "Are you saying we should aim bigger?"

"I'm saying we should start playing offense instead of defense." Rowen slid down from his stool, more comfortable leaning against the kitchen island. He crossed his arms. "We restored our armors back to the level they were when we defeated Talpa, and then some. We've done our prep work, and we're ready to fight. We just need our main targets."

"Who like to avoid us at every turn," Sage commented with a sigh. "Finding our mastermind is going to take some time. We'll need informants for that."

Rowen gave Laura a meaningful look. The girl looked over at the front door for a moment before returning her gaze back at the boy. "I'll go talk to Cye about that locket," she finally agreed. "We'll see if it leads us anywhere."

"And if it's a rune?"

Laura took in a deep breath and got up. "If it's a rune, we'll find the other rune bearers. Might as well take the risk if it'll put a bit more manpower on our side."

"Nice to know you're being optimistic about it."

Laura gave the archer a cool gaze. "If we find a rune bearer who wants us dead, I'm holding you responsible for killing him. And then we're taking his rune. End of story." Rowen, for the life of him, was having a difficult time telling if she was joking or not.

"He's at the pool." Laura stopped mid-walk and turned back around. "You should give him some time to swim first," Kento continued with small shrug. "He's easier to deal with then."

She smiled at the gesture, nodding before stepping out of the apartment and closing the door softly behind her.

"You think Cye's alright?" Ryo asked after a moment's pause. "It's not like him."

"Actually, it's very like him," Kento said, finally taking a gulp of his tea. "If he's upset about something, he doesn't like people knowing about it. And if he can't avoid people knowing about it, he at least doesn't want them to actually see him upset."

"Especially in front of us." Sage tapped his fingers against the side of his teacup. "You know how he is. He doesn't like wielding power in general, and then give him something similar to Laura's rune added on top of his armor's responsibilities and well… He's having a hard time of it."

"Either way, we need to know about that locket." Rowen nodded to his best friend. "You fought the seventh assassin today, right? Is there anything from that fight that could prove helpful to us?"

Helpful? That was not how Sage would classify the information he had gotten out of today's fight. Actually, it was outright problematic. "Remember what we were talking about at the hospital? How we thought it was strange for our enemies to suddenly switch from wanting to capture Laura to outright trying to kill her? And how they've suddenly become so aggressive, contrary to the demons we fought the first time around?"

"Yeah. What about?"

"It's because there's two different factions of demons warring with each other."

Kento sputtered. Ryo's eyes widened and Rowen slowly uncrossed his arms in disbelief. "What?"

"And we're caught in the middle."

Kento took a deep breath. "Please tell me you're lying." When Sage shook his head, Kento swore severely under his breath. "We're stuck in a turf war?"

"In a sense, it seems." Rowen started to massage his temples. "If what Sage says is true, then one side wants Laura alive and the other wants her dead, whether for their own reasons or just to piss off the first group." Shit. Two enemies at the same time? This was going to require more consideration than he first thought. "So what happened?"

Sage didn't answer right away. It seemed as if he was having a hard time of it.

Another thought came to Rowen at that moment, and he raised his eyebrows in a mix of surprise and a sudden shock of worry. "You fought both?"

"Not at the same time." Somehow, Sage's answer had failed to give the kind of assurance he was hoping for. "Look," he tried again. "What happened was I ended up fighting against a demon, I'm assuming, was from the first group, the ones without the tattoos. I found out later that the only reason he fought me was to lure out the seventh assassin and execute him. I got out of it when the fight between the two of them got underway."

"So one of our enemies used you as bait to take out our other enemy and completely ignored you in the process." Rowen paused, re-crossing his arms. "Hm."

"What tattoos are you talking about?" Kento asked.

"The demon that attacked Sage and I at Kanaji had this odd, flame shaped tattoo on his arm," Ryo explained. "Are you sure that's the distinguishing mark of the second group? The assassins the other day didn't have them on their gi."

"That's because it was tattooed on their backs," Sage said distastefully.

"Um, Sage? The assassins didn't have physical bodies."

"I know."

"Oh." A pause. "Well, as long as you know…"

"This could actually work!"

Sage was too deep into the memory of the deformity of an assassin that he fought just a few hours ago to speculate what part of anything they had just said could possibly be a good thing. "What are you babbling about now, Rowen?"

"Us having two enemies that hate each other." He held up two fingers and wiggled them a bit too triumphantly for what he had just said. "We could work it to our advantage."

"You mean…" Kento blinked owlishly at the boy. "Play both sides?"

"No, of course not! That'll get us killed once they find out." Rowen, however, did take a moment to consider the possibility, much to everyone's horror. "Nope," he finally said. "Too complicated. The gains' not that good either."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"That we conveniently help one side take out the other." The unanimous silence was not what Rowen was expecting. "What?"

"Rowen," Ryo began very, very carefully. "I think there are three things you're missing here. One," He held up a finger and started to count off. "They're demons. Two, both sides want to take Laura away, and three! Both sides want us dead!"

"Oh come on!" Rowen waved a dismissive hand. "They only want us dead because they think we work for Talpa, but once that's clarified and they find out we've actually killed him, I don't think they'd hold much of a grudge. And it's better to help the group that needs Laura alive. True, they'd still want to take her away for whatever purpose, but until they get her, they'd be working to keep her from getting killed, just like us. And besides, this group, unlike the ones with the tattoos doesn't seem to have our demise at the top of their agenda list, nor are they as aggressive. In fact, most of the time, they've fought us because we happen to be in the way. If we start proving on our own to be more of a help than a hindrance, I don't see why they won't let us be."

Unanimous silence, yet again. But this time, it was because all of Rowen's rambling was starting to make sense.

Ryo rubbed his eyes into the base of his palms. "Oh, I can't believe we're going to do this…"

"It's not like we're going to go up to them and swear our allegiance to their cause," Rowen snorted. "It's just an agreement between us; we agree when presented with two targets in a fight to take out the one sporting the tattoo. They're the greater threat, because they don't care who gets involved as long as they complete their mission. And, if they are the stronger of the two, it's good that we're taking them out first, while the other faction is busy with them. They'll lose a few good soldiers in this civil war, and when we end up going against them, at least it's the weaker group. I don't know about you guys, but I would rather go head to head against the weaker of the two of them. And I'd rather not have both sides coming to the conclusion that we're a problem that requires them to team up against us. We can't handle both groups at the same time."

"Who says we can't take on both groups?" Kento demanded indignantly.

"We can't." Sage sighed. "If you were present at the fight today, you'd know that we can't. If we did, at the very least, we'd turn Tokyo into a complete war zone. Just like what happened in downtown Shinjuku during the Dynasty war, except we'll have human casualties like you've never seen." He turned to his best friend and nodded. "I'd have to agree with Rowen. The first group won't kill Laura. And they're more careful about who sees them. If we fight them later, it'll be strictly between us and them. No civilians involved."

"So this is what it's come down to," Kento said. "Choosing the lesser of two evils?"

"Hey, at least we get to choose this time around." Ryo nodded. "I'm in. It'll cut down our losses and give us more options later."

"And if the side we're helping decides to attack us anyway?" Kento asked.

"It'll still buy us some time," Sage said. "Most of the demons in the first group don't seem to act outside of orders. If their leader doesn't command them to, I don't think they'll attack us."

"Unless, of course, their orders are to complete their mission at all cost." Kento frowned at the lot of them. "Am I the only one who sees that there's still a big problem with this plan?"

"Surprising, since it's usually the reverse."

Kento glared at Rowen. "I'm serious."

"So am I. Look, I know it's a gamble. But it's a calculated gamble. And temporary while we're gathering info and, hopefully, allies. We can't run in blind anymore. There are too many people at risk."

Kento wasn't one to put the safety of innocent people over himself. But still, the doubt of forming alliances with demons, even when said demons would not know about it or get it in writing, lingered for a few more seconds before he let out a long breath and gave up. "Alright. But I'm not going out of my way to save some demon's ass, you got that?"

Rowen smirked. "Would never dream of it."

The night was still young. The sun had barely disappeared over Tokyo's impressive skyline. But here, in the residence, night had already firmly grounded itself.

A small figure stepped out from the glass doors that opened up into the inner courtyard of the five story apartment complex. The flat heels of her shoes tapped against the concrete as she made her way down the small scenic pathway that lead to the outdoor pools.

Laura shivered slightly as a cold whiff of air brushed by her. She rubbed her arms to drive away the cold. It's already November. She'd have to remember to wear warmer clothes to school.

She stopped a few steps short. The pathway ended at a dark green gate that opened up wide to a large pool, illuminated by lights beneath the water and around the pool parameter. A few of those lights also lined the path she walked, the glow making visible all floating specks of dust in the air.

It felt surreal, walking on rays of light to a pool of flawless blue.

She opened the gate and stepped through. More than halfway down the center of the pool, a ripple of water was slowly making its way across, following in the wake of a young man swimming underwater. Laura spotted Cye's clothes folded neatly on top of a lawn chair next to a clean white towel from the complex's gym. She wondered vaguely, as Cye broke the surface and touch the edge of the pool before turning back and diving in one fluid motion, if what he was wearing was indeed his boxers, or if the boy wore a pair of swim trunks under his garments just for occasions like this.

She thought of turning back at that moment to let him be for a little while longer; though she had taken up Kento's suggestion and wandered around the building for quite some time before finding the outdoor pool and then lingering some more. But Cye had already appeared at her end of the pool and had resurfaced, taking a moment to wipe the water from his face with his hand and then another to blink up at her and realize it was indeed her.

"Oh, Laura." He blinked again, then rested his arms on the edge of the pool. "What are you doing here?"

The innocent inquiry made her smile, and she crouched down on the balls of her feet, making sure her skirt fell around her legs to cover all the right places. "Just out for a stroll," she said, folding her hands in her lap and looking up at the stars. "Nice night."

"Hm," he followed her gaze up to the heavens, for a moment lost in its darkness, before resting his chin on his arms. A pool of water was starting to form underneath. "Sorry. For running out like that."

Laura shook her head. "S'alright, we weren't really much help in the matter." She chuckled slightly. "You are very effective at stopping arguments, by the way."

Cye cracked a smile. "Thanks."

He pushed himself away from the edge, letting himself fully sink underwater before popping his head back up again, reveling in the feel of cool water against his face. Cye ran both hands through his hair and the auburn locks flattened back against his skull. Laura saw that he still wore the locket around his neck.

She tilted her head to the side. "Is silver waterproof?"

At the mention of it, Cye looked down at his chest. He smiled softly, but didn't answer.

Laura wasn't sure that she'd ever get Cye to talk about the locket, and for a fleeting moment, she wished she was dealing with someone else other than this calm, gentle young man. Anyone else, she could use more force than she could ever willing bring up against him.

Cye was suddenly by the edge of the pool again, a hand out reaching for hers. "C'mon. Give me your hand."

Instead of doing what he said, she shuffled a few safe steps back. "No way. I don't have clothes to change back into and you're not getting me to swim in my underwear."

He laughed, loudly at that, and Laura felt herself blush. He still held out his hand, motioning for her to get closer. "Just touch the water. I want to show you something."

Still hesitant, but now a bit curious, Laura edged towards the water, kneeling down by the pool before she slowly reached over and dipped her hand in it. She didn't feel anything different, other than how crisp and refreshing the water felt. But then she did notice something. Or rather, the absence of something.

"I don't smell any chlorine."

"Taste it."

Laura gave him a very odd look, but when Cye continued to grin like an excited boy with a secret on the tip of his tongue, she scooped up some water in her palm and took a sip.

She swallowed quickly to force down her shock, and when she could breathe again she looked at Cye with wide, pale eyes. "Is this real spring water?"

Cye laughed joyously, pushing himself back into the water. The locket seemed to glow with its wearer's merriment. Laura tried to repress a smile and looked back at the water again. He had done this. Whether intentional or not, Cye had changed the pool into natural, clean water. She wanted to take another sip, in fact a whole glassful. It had tasted so good and invigorating, but she resisted the urge.

"Seems like you're getting the hang of it."

"No." Cye had quite suddenly sobered up. "No, not really. It just reacts to…" He paused, then frowned. "…to what I want, even though I don't even know I want it." There was a sense of fear behind his sea green eyes that Laura had not seen earlier but the Ronin had wrestled with before. Many, many times before. "What if I want something but… but I shouldn't have it done? And if I hurt someone with it I'd never—"

"Cye."

He looked up and found hazel colored eyes staring steadily into his own.

"Cye," she repeated his name again. "Listen to me. You'll never accidentally misuse it because every object of power, whether inherently good or evil, still reacts to its user's heart, and your heart wants nothing but good." She paused for a moment, gaze shifting to the locket again before she smiled in irony. "Besides, if you haven't been controlling that, and it's been acting on its own instinct, then I think that thing can't do anything but good either."

Laura watched, smile graciously in place, as Cye's mood lightened. The locket pulsed out a small wave of energy, to her amusement. It seemed to approve of her words as well.

"C'mon," she motioned him to come back to the pool's edge. "Let me see it."

Cye waded in the water towards her, hands undoing the clasp at the nape of his neck. He wrapped a bit of the chain around his fingers before reaching the end of the pool, holding the locket out dangling in front of her.

Laura reached out a hand to take it, but a sudden bout of déjà vu came to her. She pulled her hand back, remembering last night. "Never mind. Can you open it for me?"

Puzzled, Cye set down the locket in his other palm. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she said when Cye pressed the latch on top and the lid sprung open. "Just would rather err on the side of caution." She took a deep, appreciative breath at the beautiful aquamarine gemstone in the center of sterling silver and lines of gold and light blue. It was a marvelous setting.

She leaned forward, squinting at the carving in the center of the oval-shaped stone before she jerked back. Her hand fluttered to her own necklace, feeling out the pentagram and its chisel cut grooves. Though the symbols were different, the locket's stone surface had the same kind of cut, the same gold inlay that traced out one simple shape: the silhouette of a perfect drop of water.

It can't really be a rune. She had to check.

Laura reached out a hand, and slowly, pushed her power forward. She had only gone so far when the energy within the locket responded and latched onto her own.

Sage jerked out of his seat just as a short shriek was heard and the lights in the apartment went out.

"What the?"

"Aw shit!"

He heard shuffling noises, followed by the whoosh of a heavy glass door being slid open.

"You alright?" Rowen had found Sage in the darkness and had taken hold of his friend's arm.

Sage took another deep breath and nodded. Was he the only one that felt that collision of power? "What's going on?"

The lights flickered back on, and the room was empty other than the two of them. The chair next to and across from him were pushed far back, and the balcony door was left open.

Rowen let go of Sage and the two of them made for the door. Sage stepped out onto the balcony three stories up. The pool lay not that far to his left, and right underneath was the gate that separated the garden path from the complex's private swim area. Next to that gate, by one of the outdoor tables, he spotted Ryo, along with Kento, who was making his way hurriedly to the side of the pool. He guessed both Wildfire and Hardrock had used the blackout to use their sub armors to jump down, then transformed back before anyone noticed.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Laura and Cye with them, seemingly fine, which was odd, given Laura's uncharacteristic scream and the sudden power shock that had cast the complex into temporary darkness. But then, as he and Rowen watched them from their view on the balcony, he noted how Cye pulled himself out of the pool and sat down along its edge, running his hands back and forth over his thighs and calves before slapping them and repeating the process again, as if he was trying to bring feeling back into his legs. Laura, meanwhile, had slowly waddled, yes waddled, over to Ryo, holding her hands out to her sides and sporting an utterly horrified expression of disgust on her face.

She snapped her hands down as if to shake something off of her and, to the balcony viewers' surprise, water had dislodged itself from her arms and hit the floor. Sage leaned more over the railing, squinting in the darkness. Her school uniform was a shade darker than it should have been, even in the night lighting, and curious dark splotches trailed behind her, where her sodden shoes had made contact with the dry pavement. "My god. She's—"

"ROWEN!"

The aforementioned boy seemed to duck his head where he stood. "Yeah?" he called down tentatively.

Even with three stories of air separating them, he could tell Laura was seething. "It's a Rune."

"Oh." There was a pause as things clicked into place. "Oh. …Heh. How'd you figure that?" Rowen asked weakly. If possible, her glare intensified.

"Guess!" she snapped up at him, then spun on her heels and stalked back to Cye.

Rowen crouched down on his haunches, both hands holding the top of the railing above him as he watched the group through the gaps between the bars. Laura had just pulled her hair free of her ponytail and was now wringing out the long, chestnut tresses with begrudged persistency. Large drops of water splattered on the floor next to her. "Um..."

Sage looked down at him.

"How many gallons of water do you think that was?"

Sage looked back at Laura. She had just pulled off her school vest, which dripped a vertical waterfall and looked surprisingly heavy for something so small. "Oh I don't know…" She twisted the garment and three times the amount of water that was dripping from it came spewing out. "…at least five gallons."

"Oh…" Rowen seemed to shrink lower. "I see."

Cye was still massaging his legs, but not as fervently before. He was rotating his foot experimentally when Kento dragged an empty lawn chair by his side and sat down. Ryo draped Cye's towel over Laura's shoulders and was now standing with the other two Ronins.

Sage smirked. "It doesn't seem like they're coming up anytime soon."

"Ah."

"We should go down and join them."

"Really."

"If you want to find out what happened, that is."

Rowen looked horridly uncomfortable. "Um, actually, I think we should just stay here. We don't have to know right away, right?"

"I guess."

"And they're okay," Rowen continued, a bit unsteadily. "I mean, Ryo and Kento are with them—"

"That they are."

"—and there's no reason for all of us to be down there."

"Mm-hm."

"And… and I am so dead."

"Yup." Sage nodded his head wisely. "Got that right."

By the time seven o'clock rolled around and evening had firmly camped itself for the night, half of their lot had showered and wore Cye's clothes, including Cye. Laura's uniform was in the washer, Sage's now in the drier, and her soaked shoes were sitting out on the balcony, where a small pool of water was slowly forming underneath it. Cye was worried about the shoes. They wouldn't dry by the time they all left his apartment. In fact, they probably wouldn't dry till the sun came up and gave them a thorough scorching.

He was vaguely playing with the idea of throwing them in the drier when the door to the bathroom opened and Laura popped her head around the corner. "Cye, you got a brush?"

"Left drawer," he answered automatically.

She said her thanks and disappeared back into the bathroom. A moment later, a blow drier could be heard through the closed door.

Kento raised an eyebrow at the door. "I never thought I'd see the day when Laura would wield a brush in one hand and a hair drier in the other."

"Girls are still girls, no matter how they act to the contrary," Sage said absently, brows furrowing in thought. "Your legs gave out?" What the others had relayed to him and Rowen when they had arrived back at the apartment was something he had to hear twice to believe.

Cye nodded. "It's weird. It wasn't like either force was propelling the other. They just sort of let each other pass through. Then my legs went completely numb and I fell under." He paused, remembering the feel of it, the inside of his bones going cold and his skin feeling all raw and prickly. "By the time I resurfaced and pulled myself out, Ryo and Kento were already there, and Laura was sopping wet. I have no idea where the water came from." Cye frowned and looked to Ryo. "Did you notice that?"

"Mm. You'd think, with that much water, some of it would have splashed on the floor. Or shown that it came from the pool." The Ronin leader shook his head. "Nothing. The entire area around her was dry, save for what dripped off her clothes."

Sage thought about this. From what bits and pieces he had gotten from Laura while she had been yelling at Rowen about so-called 'bright' ideas, she spoke of the same phenomenon, of two unlikely elemental powers combining without one overpowering the other, and how she was drenched to the core the instant before the entire building blacked out. What bothered him more though, was how Cye's description of the aftereffects of the Darkness Rune were similar, though to a lesser degree, to what had happened to him just the other night at his dojo.

The blow drier whirred to a stop, and a moment later, Laura stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a very thick sweater over her borrowed t-shirt and a pair of Cye's jogging pants that she had rolled up to her shins. It took a second for the guys to register that it was Laura, for not only did the oversized clothes make her look less menacing, it was the first time they had seen her with her hair down. And it was quite long.

She huffed at the lot of them. "Honestly, I don't wear my ponytail or brandish a sword in front of you and you look at me as if I'm a different person."

"Well, it's cause you look more feminine with your—"

Two quick strides into the living room and Laura thwacked Kento upside the head. "Proof?" she asked curtly.

"Yup."

Cye rolled his eyes. "Kento…"

"What? I just wanted to make sure."

Laura plopped down in the remaining empty seat around the dining table. To her delight, there was an empty cup in front of her, and a tea kettle, freshly brewed, sitting at the center of the table. She reached over, took the handle, and poured herself a cup. "I hope someone had the foresight to call their parents, or their respectable guardians, and say that none of us will be home for dinner."

"Already taken care of," Rowen said, hearing the question as he re-entered the apartment from the balcony. He eyed Laura wearily, saw that she was in a better mood and ignoring him as she drank her tea, and decided, for hasty escape purposes, to stay near the open glass doors. "Did it when you guys were out."

"So, what decision did we come to while we were out?"

The four Ronins who were present at the discussion exchanged glances. Cye, who had heard part of it while Laura was taking a shower, sighed and said, "We're helping one demonic group take out the other till we can come up with something better."

Four harsh glares were turned on Torrent's wearer. Laura set down her cup of tea. "And which group would this be?" she asked sweetly. She was directing her question, mainly at Sage.

"Not the ones from Kanaji," he said evasively.

"But the ones who destroyed my clan."

Sage raised a very sharp eyebrow at Rowen. The archer bit his bottom lip. He had forgotten that part.

Laura was chewing on the inside of her mouth, drumming agitated fingers against the rim of her cup. "Well then," she began, and found she had to raise her voice to keep it from quavering. "When you were done playing your little war games, were you going to offer me up as a token to your partners in crime?"

"Hey, wait a minute Laura," Ryo tried to begin.

"Or were you going to have a little sporting tournament to see who'd get to keep me?"

Rowen pushed himself off of the wall. "That's not what we—"

She sat up abruptly and pinned Sage with a cold glare. " 'Don't question me tonight,'" she repeated his words to him, like a bite of venom, sharp and deadly on her lips. "Is this what you meant by that?"

When he didn't answer, Laura gave him a disgusted look and got up.

As she stormed to the door, Sage ran a hand through his hair, saw that no one could think of anything proper to say, or was going to say anything for that matter, and felt the temper that he'd been calmly controlling while Laura verbally assaulted him slip. "If you'd let go of your pride for just one minute—"

"Pride?" Laura whirled on him. "Pride! It's not a matter for pride! More that of principle that I don't go helping the ones that killed my family!"

"So you'd rather us fight a losing battle on a matter of principle?"

"I was not aware that this was a losing battle," Laura spat. "Nor did I know you to be such a coward!"

Sage was standing. He didn't remember standing. "A coward?" he said carefully.

"Yes, a coward. Two enemies, and all of a sudden you run away."

Sage let out a controlled breath and shook his head. "Shit, Laura. I'm not invincible."

"Then STOP making me believe that you ARE!"

The room fell silent. Sage watched as tears started to cloud the glare that Laura was giving him, how her eyes showed far more of her hurt than the anger she was trying to portray. Then she couldn't take it, turned away, and left the apartment.

The perfect lady was to be calm and poised. She had a slight ring of sensuality when she talked, a soft smile, and a firm voice when it came to matters of the heart. She did not shout. She knew how to argue her point diplomatically on the battlefield with men, so she had no need for raising her voice. And she never let her emotions show through or cloud her mind from seeing her duty.

This was her mother, Reisa, and everything, by her nature alone, Laura could not be.

At the moment, she was childishly huddled in a corner, right below the row of small mailboxes that lined one side of the apartment lobby's wall. She looked like a child then too, in her borrowed clothes with the hem of the oversized sweater pulled over her raised legs, hugging her knees and crying into them. She wanted to stop crying. She got angrier when she didn't, and that just made her cry even harder. This is just great. Demon huntress extraordinaire, crying like a baby.

It had hurt. Yelling at Sage like that, throwing all her pain into those words. Her throat had gone hoarse before the tears had started to fall.

Stupid. She wasn't exactly sure if she was saying that of herself.

Laura hugged her legs tighter, drowning herself in the artificial darkness she had created by burying her face beneath the neckline of her borrowed sweater.

It had hurt. Yelling…

She couldn't really remember why the argument had turned out so badly. She had a legitimate reason to be mad. Actually, now that she had time to think about it, she'd admit that she was quick to accuse and even quicker not to listen. But still, she had a legitimate reason. Why she had strayed so badly from the original topic was beyond her. Why she had suddenly turned something that could have been a nice, clean argument into something so messy and personal, between her and Sage for that matter, was something she couldn't comprehend.

Stupid. Yeah… That's me. Laura suddenly wanted to slink further into her little corner. And I had said it in front of the guys too. She really shouldn't have accused them like that. Hell, even what she had said to them didn't make sense anymore. She knew them better than that. And she knew one particular person even better.

Laura sniffled underneath her sweater. She had called him a coward, straight to his face, in front of everyone. And she had meant it. They knew she meant it. And he had meant that bit about not being invincible, when only a few hours before, he had meant that bit about not being weak. Then what are you, Sage? she wanted to ask, even though she knew the answer; knew it the moment she stormed out but didn't have enough gall to storm right back in and admit she was wrong.

She gritted her teeth, and cursed under her breath. It's not fair! She stopped her swearing, and her crying, and just sat there with her arms around her knees and her face hidden from view. It's not fair…

There was a shuffle of footsteps somewhere ahead of her. Not uncommon for this time of night. People were getting home. One set had even stopped right next to her to pick up their mail.

But this shuffle of steps had stopped a few feet in front of her, paused, and then sat next to her.

"Go away," Laura said, but it was hard to be threatening with her head buried underneath her sweater.

There was a pause, as if he were thinking about it, then, "No."

"I don't need you."

"You're lying."

"So? You lied too."

She heard him sigh, but not unkindly. "I didn't think I was."

"Then what were you doing?"

"Wishful thinking, I guess."

This was not the answer she had wanted to hear.

"Can you come out of there?"

She shook her head underneath her sweater.

"Laura…"

"Not until you tell me you won't die."

He didn't say anything.

"Why?" Her voice was shaking. She was crying again. "Why can't you promise me that anymore?"

"Because!" He stopped, then began more softly. "Because I'm afraid that I'm not strong enough to keep that promise."

Some time had passed before Laura pulled her head out of Cye's sweater and wiped her nose with the sleeve. She re-wrapped her arms around her legs and leaned forward, placing her chin on her knees. Laura blinked away the moistness in her eyes, but for the moment, they had stopped.

She cast at glance at the boy next to her. Sage had his back to the wall, one leg up with his right arm draped over his knee. He head was craned up in an aimless pose, staring at the fixtures in the wall, his mind elsewhere. Laura turned her gaze back to the floor.

"…Why can't we be immortal?" she asked quietly.

He laughed; a strained, tired kind of sound. "I don't know," he said.

Laura lowered her face into her knees, locks of brown hair falling around her. "…What had changed?"

Sage took in a slow breath and let it out. "Us."

"We can't change back?"

"I don't think it works that way."

It doesn't work that way. Laura hugged her legs tighter. We can't go back. She suddenly stopped shaking. Her grip around her legs loosened and a sense of clarity came to her mind. Well, that's it then. We just can't look back.

"All right. I'm in."

Sage blinked. He looked down at her, uncomprehending. "What?"

Laura lifted her face away from her knees. She wiped at the dry tears on her face, then tucked her hair behind her ears. "Rowen's plan." There was something very different about her then. "We're going to take out one group first while they're busy fighting each other then take out the other in the aftermath, right? It's sound. It's a good strategy. And it'll buy us some time to get stronger."

Sage just stared at her.

"What?" She looked up at him. "We're not strong enough, right? We shouldn't go making promises if we can't fulfill them. So let's rework our pact." A smile crept onto her lips, and lit her whole face. "Let's get stronger, till the promises we speak never hold a shred of doubt in them again."

He couldn't believe her. He just could not believe what she had just done. She had just gotten her second wind. And by god she wasn't rising without taking him with her.

"This means you can't die either," she added as an afterthought.

Sage frowned. "Laura…"

"First one to die is the other one's slave for the entire afterlife."

He laughed, and Laura was happy to hear that it sounded young again. "Is this how you solve everything?"

"Move forward," she said cheerfully. "Even though you can't see where you're going, right?"

He remembered saying those words to her and smiled. "Right."

They sat in comfortable silence, with the fluorescent lights of the lobby buzzing low and the songs of crickets as their companions. It felt really nice to feel nothing but the immediate world around them.

Then Laura rubbed her nose again and laid her head to one side on her knees. She looked at Sage and squinted her eyes into an expression that could only be described as astonished denial. "Did we really just fight in front of them?"

Sage paused, remembered his friends' expressions, and laughed weakly. "Yeah."

"Oh god." Laura smacked her forehead against her knees, then lifted her head and placed both of her hands over her mouth. "We did, didn't we?"

Sage nodded again, which only made Laura want to hide behind her hands even further. "We scared the shit out of them, too."

"Do we have to go back up?" Laura asked, pleadingly. "I don't want to go back up."

Sage saw that her face, half hidden behind her hands, was red with embarrassment. He couldn't help his smile. She did look cute. "C'mon now…"

"You know what's going to happen?" She slapped her hands against her knees and tried to force down her embarrassment. "We're going to go up there… And they're going to look at me, and I'm gonna take one look at them and either start laughing—Sage, stop it. It's not funny.—or I'm going to run back out the door again. Oh please! Can't we just run away?"

Sage calmed down, chuckling a few more times. "Run away where?"

"Home maybe." She looked him up and down, taking in the black pants that were an inch shorter than they should be and the white dress shirt that was still unbuttoned. "In our own clothes—" Sage laughed. "—drinking jasmine tea?"

Sage smiled and leaned his head back against the wall wistfully. "Mm. Sounds promising."

"So we can leave?"

"You don't have shoes."

Laura looked down at her exposed toes and belatedly realized that she had been trudging around the building barefoot. She wiggled them exuberantly. "I can transform into my ninja gi! No problem! Besides, what's the worse that could happen if we didn't show up?"

"Well," Sage began thoughtfully. "For starters, Ryo would have a heart attack." He gave the brunette a stern look. "You know he would. Kento would curse us to the pits of hell for making him worry, then reason that we're making out somewhere." At the thought, both of them blushed furiously. Sage pressed on. "Rowen would be the only one to reason that we went home, and Cye..." He frowned when he came to the last of their group. "Actually, Cye probably would say 'Good riddance!' and drink more tea."

"Were we really that bad today?"

"Face it, Laura. He wanted to kill us."

"I know, but!" She paused, shook her head, then started to giggle. "My god, we were that bad!"

The barely contained sound soon became a joyous, full throat laugh that had spread to her companion, and soon both of them we laughing loudly on the floor, ignoring their undignified positions and just enjoying the feel of really letting go.

When the laughter died, and they had each caught their breath and lapsed back into comfortable silence, Laura scooted closer to Sage and leaned her head back against his shoulder. "Let's stay for a little bit, hm?"

Sage raised a surprised eyebrow as she closed her eyes, but said nothing. Instead, he smiled, and settled himself more comfortably against the wall. "Yeah. Sure."

Outside of the lobby, a young girl ducked her head back from peering through the glass doors of the entrance. She leaned against the cool stucco wall of the apartment building, hands clasped behind her back, biting on her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling. She had nothing to worry about after all.

Pushing herself off the wall, she skated the little distance from the door to the first patio step and jumped the three steps to the concrete walkway that lead down to the sidewalk. She turned in a semi-arc on her inline skates and stopped to look up once more at the building, to the third floor.

Smiling again and pushing a lock of dark blue hair away from her face, she turned around and skated away.

Up at the apartment, the locket around Cye's neck glowed.

He stared down at it, tracing the rim of the oval charm before tucking it back underneath the safety of his shirt. He reached over and poured himself another cup of tea. Just behind him, Ryo and Rowen were arguing.

"Let them be. Having more than one person down there isn't going to make the situation any better."

Ryo growled. "This is a person we're talking about here! Not some battle plan!"

—They're back on the war bit again.—

—Let them go at it. They're just both mad and need to vent off some steam.—

Cye turned his eyes skyward behind the comfort of his tea cup. —As long as Ryo doesn't go out that door, I'm happy.—

Kento was twisting his empty cup around his hands.

Cye frowned. —You want to go down there?—

—Not to interfere or anything,— Kento assured him when Cye gave him one of those speaking looks. —That fight needs to be solved by them and them alone. Besides,— Kento smiled ruefully. —I don't do well in these kind of fights.—

Cye snorted in agreement. He didn't either. He wondered how Sage managed, but then realized, with a bit of irony, that it was only because he had a lot of practice.

—I just…—

Cye looked at his friend expectantly.

Kento stopped twirling his cup and set his chin in his hand. —Want to be there when it's over. Just so she knows, that we're there, you know?—

"Hm." Cye finished the rest of his cup and glanced over at the arguing duo. His head started to hurt. —Let's walk a bit.—

Kento looked back at Rowen and Ryo, then to Cye, who was already slipping on his shoes and opening the door. He got up. —But what about…?—

Cye waved it off. —Mia told me they fought like this when we were held prisoner in the Dynasty.— He waited for Kento to get his shoes on and stepped through the door. —They won't notice that we're gone and they won't stop until they're done.— The door clicked shut. "But they will get done. Probably by the time we get back."

—And when will— Kento stopped, then took a deep breath and broke the link. "And when will we be back?"

"Once we check on them," he said as they boarded the elevator. "They seem to have calmed down."

Kento raised an eyebrow. "How can you tell? I can only sense Sage and, frankly, nothing of his personal state."

Cye smiled mysteriously. "Just a hunch, really."

The elevator dinged on the bottom floor and they stepped out into a hallway that lead to the front entrance.

Kento's eyebrow arched higher. "A hunch?"

"Yes."

"Really now?"

"Oh just drop it will you," Cye huffed and rounded the corner.

He stopped.

"What is it Cye?" Kento stepped around the boy's back and walked into the lobby. He stopped in the very same fashion Cye had. "Well ain't that cute?" He nudged Cye with his elbow, and the boy had gotten enough sense back into him to pick up his jaw. "C'mon, let's go."

"But they're sleeping on the—"

"It's fine," Kento insisted, grabbing Cye's arm and pulling him along. "They're not gonna catch pneumonia and Sage'll notice before anyone tries to mug them." Kento had gotten them to the elevator and pushed the 'up' button before rolling his eyes skyward. "God I feel bad for the poor sap who tries to cross those two…"

"But are you sure it's alright to leave them there?" Cye asked. He looked back the way they came but stepped in the elevator anyway.

Kento peeked around the closing elevator door for a brief moment before pushing the button to their floor. "I'm sure. Half an hour. We'll get them then if they don't come up on their own."

"That was strange though."

"What was?"

"Well…" Cye tried to find the right words for it. "It looked right to you, didn't it?"

Kento paused, recalling the image to his mind; of a light haired boy sleeping next to a dark haired girl, and smiled. "Yeah… Yeah, it did."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Aw cuteness.

A chapter just on the Ronins and Laura/Sage fluff, if you could call the kind of relationship they have 'fluff.' :rolls eyes:

You want to know the honest truth? The last half of this chapter was not supposed to happen. Yup. Laura throws in one line into that argument with Sage and I spend the rest of my evening reworking the whole bloody thing. Speaking of bloody, I also had to keep rewriting Cye's dialogue because I kept writing him British, and he was starting to use the same phrases as Aziraphale from Good Omens, which usually includes calling everyone 'dear.' :long pause: I rest my case. Damn you Terry Pratchett! Just finished reading Guards! Guards! btw. :waves little cheering flag: Go Night Watch! XD

But going back on topic, this chapter wasn't supposed to be as emotionally studded as it was. But it just goes to show that I really don't have any control over these characters. They just sort of act on whatever it is I throw at them, and then I have to react to whatever their reaction was to even possibly keep the story going somewhat forward. So now you know why I'm not at the end yet and why Takeru-kun is taking forever to reappear. Cause they like digressing. A lot. Actually, Takeru was supposed to make an appearance once Laura and Sage got home. But I never got to the part of the group conversation that would have gone over the subject of contacts in stronger detail. That's actually where the conversation was supposed to go. That and Cye's rain girl. So now, I have to push it further back cause there's no set up for it. :longsuffering sigh: Yeah…

Okay! This is going to be a rather long author's note so you might as well sit back, relax, or stop reading.

Oh! And another thing! That scene in the very beginning of the chapter where Sage asks for that favor? I was supposed to get around to that too! Actually, everyone was! :is seething: I'm kinda mad at Sage and Laura right now. Just kinda…

Hopefully, Maki and Kurumi aren't this troublesome or else I'm quitting.

Speaking of those two, the next chapter will pick up on the action with them, Lord Tajhinn, and the BlackGuard. Yup. I'm sure everyone knows which direction this nasty confrontation is heading. As to if it's a full solo chapter like Pledges and Promises, I don't know. I kinda liked it, you know, not having to break the overall feel of the chapter by cutting between both groups all the time. :shrugs: It really depends on if enough happens in the demon realm to fill 16 pages of writing, but I really doubt that'd be a problem with me.

And before I go, I must address certain reviewers that need my undivided attention…

Little Fairy from Nam you're where? Why? Just tell me why? I worry when people I know suddenly send short messages from foreign countries without warning.

Panthera! Read Good Omens! It's gooooood. Very refreshing. Or Guards! Guards! I'm going to read all of his books, because there's a lot of them, and I'm about to go find Mort, cause it's all about Death, as in the person Death, the one who SPEAKS IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and ushers you into the underworld. :wide smile: I love him.

And yes. I don't work. I never work. I play. It's like putting a leaf in front of an ant trail and seeing where the poor little buggers go. :cringe: Oh god. I'm picking up the dialect. I think I'll just stop my embarrassment here and pick up with the yaoi jokes in an email. :evil grin:

And my dear Aeris… Jesus Christ! Um… this is the moment when a rather flattered (and flustered) author mutters a very humble thanks and either starts rambling in ecstatic euphoria or just drops dead. Since a lot of people would bring my soul back from hell if I actually dropped dead and I'd rather skip out on that process, thank you very much, I'll just go for option A.

I really want to talk to you now. Actually, if you don't want to talk to me, that's fine too, but I'd like to address your review properly because there's so much stuff in that review that I want to talk to you about now and :looks up at her author's (quote unquote) note: Um… It'd be really inconvenient for me to ramble on at the end of a chapter more than I already do. So, if you leave me an email address, I can ramble. Or you can just bug me at my email address: LittleUcchan at aol dot com.(Sorry for the weird write up, but Fanfiction dot net doesn't seem to like posting web or email addresses.) :grumble grumble:

And if you don't, I will be forced to post my entire response on my bio page, in hopes that you'll get around to (along with everyone else in the world) reading it. I don't like embarrassing people that way (cause my friend Phoenix Cubed does it and I get embarrassed) but I don't really like having someone put so much effort into a review, and not sleep because she was reading my work (So sorry, btw), and not show my gratitude for it. You really made my day for writing that, and you did spurn me on to make an early post. As Panthera would know, a 16 page average, a page a day, more than two weeks from the last post is when I would have updated. So, simply put, thank you. And I hope we can get around to chatting one day.