Disclaimer: Hmm… Just in case, I'm stating that I do not own the Trooper/ Ronin Universe®, though any characters/ villainous beings that don't exist in the show or OVA's are MINE!!! Use only with permission, SVP.

"What the hell happened?!"

"Take it easy Kento," Sage admonished.

"Take it easy?" Kento looked ready to snap something, either a piece of furniture, or somebody's neck.

"We don't know, Hardrock," Kayura told him flatly. "We didn't really have a chance to sit down and figure it out."

"I heard footsteps," Rachel spoke up, "Kayura and Kale went to investigate, and the next thing we knew, they came tearing back and we were attacked."

"We got back as fast as we could," Sage added.

Ryo and Kale came back and found places to sit.

"Kale, you mentioned something while we were down there. Something about 'Guardians'?" Rowen ventured.

Everyone's gaze turned to the Warlord. "Well, actually, Kayura's the one with that information."

It would've been funny any other time, to have watched all of their heads turn in unison to the other side of the room, like something out of a comic strip. But right now, there was nothing funny. Everyone in the room was exhausted from a battle that should have been too short to wear them out, and sick to their stomachs with fear.

"What is he talking about?" Ryo asked.

Kayura sighed, and sat there for a moment with her eyes closed, a pained expression on her face. "As I mentioned to Kale earlier, this is all hear say. I don't know what, if any of it, is true. But while I was in the Dynasty, I overheard a lot, and I was trained in many things the Warlords were not.

"During one of the times I was left with Badamon to learn more of the… 'dark powers', if you'll pardon the cliché, of the Nether Realm, I came across a reference in one of the scrolls to a very ancient form of life."

"These are living beings?" Katie asked.

Kayura hesitated. "That's the best way to describe them that I can think of. The scroll described a method of purifying darkness. Not in the sense we'd think, where it's made good. This is the 'remove everything but' way of purifying. These creatures were referred to as 'Guardians'. They were the oldest known form of evil in the Nether Realm."

"So why were they under the castle?" Rowen wondered aloud. "And what do they have to do with Talpa, if anything?"

"Badamon didn't want to talk about them, I remember that much. From what I gathered, Talpa had plans for trying to use them, but Badamon thought it was a bad idea. He seemed nervous. I think Talpa eventually realized there was a flaw with them somewhere, and gave up on the idea."

"Maybe," Sai spoke up, trying to sound hopeful, "Talpa found out that there was a big weakness somewhere in them, and just abandoned the whole project?"

"When we first found that whole area, it'd been sealed very well," Sekhmet said. "We thought it was because Talpa had hidden something there that he didn't want anyone else to use. Now I wonder if maybe it wasn't more so that they wouldn't just kill him on their own."

This brought another heavy silence.

"Ok, a little off subject," Rachel spoke up, "but how many of those came back with us?"

No one spoke up. No one was sure.

"I dunno…" Kento grunted. "I hope it was five." He let out a nervous laugh.

"Why?" Dais asked, worried. She'd been the first to hear them last time.

"I just thought I heard something…" Rachel trailed off, straining her ears to see if she could find the noise again. "But maybe it was just me."

Everyone seemed very nervous. Even the usually calm Sai's foot was twitching.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Can we seal the whole place back up?" Ryo asked.

Kayura sighed. "I don't think so. For one thing, it'd take a tremendous amount of power. For another, I think it's too dangerous to go back now. At least to that part of the Dynasty."

"So, uh, where'll you guys stay?" Katie questioned. The four looked at each other.

"We haven't really given it much thought," Dais admitted truthfully.

"Haven't had the time," Sekhmet agreed.

"Well," Ryo stood up after a moment of awkward silence, "I suppose this is the part where we insist you stay with us."

"Do you have the space?" Kayura sounded surprised.

"Sure," Sage spoke up. "I mean, for this group not to have killed each other by now," he gave a pointed glance at Katie and Ryo, "we'd have to have some room."

As the room soon filled with discussions about who would sleep where and plans for obtaining the Warlords' belongings from the Dynasty, the dark mood seemed to slowly slip away


It was evening now. Several hours since that strange aura had come from down the road. Enough time to avoid suspicion and for them to let their guards down enough for her to find out what had gone on.

She strolled leisurely down the dirt path, mind lost in details to plans no one knew of.

After a while, she realized she'd nearly passed the house she'd been looking for. It was darker, and quieter than usual. With so many in one house, nearly every night there were several lights on throughout the house, filtering their soft glow into the peaceful air. And usually, there was plenty of noise to disrupt that peaceful air. The thumping of footsteps on the stairs, Kento stealing someone's food, Katie and Ryo at it again…

She laughed to herself. They were such an eclectic group. One wouldn't have normally put them in a house together like this, she thought. It wouldn't seem like it would turn out the way it did. Rowen was usually quiet and studious, Sage even quieter and thoughtful. Sai was shy and kind, Kento loud and boastful. Katie was just insane, and Rachel… she didn't see how she survived rooming with Katie. And Ryo…

She shook her head. Strange thoughts. Yes, he was nice, almost bordering on scary when it came to her. But that was all.

Thankfully, she had reached the door, and could put these thoughts out of her mind. Just as she was about to ring the doorbell, she heard a familiar growl. Sighing, she turned.

"Hello, Whiteblaze."

He gave her a warning glance.

"Oh, don't act like that. Haven't you bothered me enough today?"

He gave her another look, and she knew exactly what it meant. Haven't you bothered him enough today?

"I just came to see about homework. Ryo," she nearly stuttered the name, and mentally hit herself upside the head, "must not've told Katie I was by."

She could swear he snorted derisively at that, but chose to ignore him and pressed the doorbell


DING DONG!

The three Warlords and Kayura literally jumped out of their seats.

"Holy —"

"What the —"

"Nani?!"

"Eep!"

Kento and Sai immediately looked over at Ryo, who muttered something unpleasant under his breath.

"Oh, yeah, Katie, by the way, Amber came by to ask you about homework today," he laughed nervously.

"When was this?"

"While there were two giant portals in our living room," Kento growled.

"Ah. I sense we missed something while we were gone then." Katie stood. "I'll go see if it's her." She walked out of the room, muttering how she didn't see why she couldn't just call…

The door opened, revealing a rather tired looking Katie. "Hey, what's up?" she yawned.

"Did Ryo tell you that I came by earlier?"

She laughed. "Just now, I'm afraid. Uh, come in, I guess." She stood aside and held the door open. Whiteblaze followed the blonde girl in, eyes never leaving her.

"What do you mean, you don't know if she saw?" Rowen hissed, trying not to be too loud.

"Do we have to go through this again? I don't know. She didn't say anything!"

"Shh!"

Katie and Amber walked in.

"Um, hi," she waved meekly.

"H-hi," Ryo said back automatically.

The blonde looked around. "What happened here?"

They all realized then that the whole living room was indeed a mess. Most of the furniture hadn't been righted, as they were all too tired to care.

"Game tournament today," Katie spoke up quickly. "We played video games this afternoon. Then, some of us went to the airport to get our friends here from out of town, which must've been when you came by. When we got back, well, we had lots of Mountain Dew, and the Twister board came out, and —"

Amber laughed. "Say no more then. But who are your friends?"

Katie walked Amber around and introduced her, and everyone tried to fake normal conversation. Fake being a normal… family. Ryo sat slumped back in his chair, unable to take his eyes off her. And for once, it wasn't because of the way he felt, it was because of something he somehow knew. Something he shouldn't know. Something he refused to acknowledge.

He watched, and she briefly glanced over at him, and he felt his heart shoot up to his throat. Then the two headed upstairs to the girls' room, and once the sound of the door closing was heard, everyone let out an audible sigh of relief.

"She is disturbingly good at, um, what's the new term for that…" Sekhmet pondered aloud.

"BSing," Kento supplied, giving a small chuckle. "And you have no idea…"

Ryo even gave a small laugh at that. She was indeed a master of word play… He couldn't remember how many times she'd turned something he'd said from completely innocent to total hentai, often landing him in trouble with somebody. It always frustrated him, yet now, her near-demonic skill had just saved all of them a lot of explaining…

RANTING: Ok, whew! Another chapter! Holy cow! Still not moving the plot along too far, I know… But at least they're out of the Nether Realm now!

Same old spiel: Read. Review. Now. (And thanks!)