A/N: This chapter is fully revised.

The Elementals

Chapter 1

He was hoping this was another dream. But each time it seemed so real, the pain, the blood, and the sense of his yoroi completely disappearing from his mind, from his soul. It was torn from him so cruelly that he hated repeating the dreams over and over again. But they would not stop unless he acted upon them or they come to pass. He was yet to mention his dreams to his friends. He knew he should because they deserved to know. His prophetic dreams are taken seriously now and they would listen to him. But that would cause them worry… and he just couldn't do that to them.

He looked to his right expecting the two dark figures to appear. Though he had no idea who they were. In most of his past dreams the same thing happened, sometimes only one of them fought or sometimes two. If there was a pattern he couldn't tell, something that may give him a hint of the future. He learned the usually small things in his dreams he thinks are insignificant, turned out to make big differences for the Samurai Troopers' outcome. Dreams repeated more than once were not good. Like when visions of Arago plagued his sleep, warning him of the near future.

They did come as expected, leaving behind a trail of shadow as if they absorbed all light in their presence. One of them, the tallest, held two daggers at its side. The shorter one, thin and small, had a thin deadly sword at their side. He already knew he was alone, alone on the streets of Tokyo. Calling out to his friends would be a bad mistake, unless he wanted to be bombarded with questions when they woke him. They wouldn't be too happy when they found out Ryo thought he needed saving in his dreams.

He clenched his yoroi crystal tightly in his hand with a silent refusal of giving up. Only one came after him this time as if to mock his weakness. He stepped back automatically shifting into a fighting stance.

There was no preamble.

The figure raised two blood stained daggers in the air.

He already knew there was no point in summoning his yoroi, but it still called out to him, even in his sleep. He watched as the daggers were released from their master and raced towards him craving for the blood of a samurai trooper. He managed to dodge their fatal strike, but was instead pinned successfully to the building by the two daggers. They hissed as the brick around them suddenly started to melt. He tried to struggle free as the acid seeping from the daggers burned his flesh and ultimately ended up fighting the screams that wanted to escape his lips.

He looked around for the bearer of the two daggers only to find the dark figure was standing right in front of him. It was a man. His attacker pulled one of the daggers out of the building, thick black acid dripping from it.

His dreams often shifted around like a summarized version of the future. So Ryo figured something must happen between each event. Though he could be wrong but it was hard telling the difference. Maybe if the scene would switch erratically that would tell him something unimportant happen. Well, not as important as his yoroi being destroyed but insignificant enough for him not to know.

People say you can't feel pain in dreams, Ryo could prove them wrong. He felt Seiji's pain when he was captured after his yoroi kicked in and the sudden shift in his blonde friend's element upset Rekka. He was then no longer free from the horrible dreams till they freed Seiji. He felt his friend's pain like he's feeling the pain being inflicted upon him now.

"I'll enjoy killing you," he said, insane excitement in his voice.

He already thought this guy was as insane as Arago. But he thought anyone supporting Youjakai were insane. They would have to be to want to serve under a delirious evil conqueror that wanted to take over the world. Which was why he was here to make sure that didn't happen.

The bearer of Rekka could only watch as the man plunged the acid dagger into his side. Rekka however did not yell, he refused to yell. But it burned, burned like hell as the acid seeped into his wound. He heard the man laugh, still holding his yoroi crystal protectively in his hand. He couldn't let the man have it.

"It's just a dream, it's happen before, one more blow and you'll wake up," He thought to himself. Even though he repeated this "dream" six times he never became used to the horrible pain. It was as fresh and new as his first dream and always threatening to make him cry out. To at least let some of it out to help. He never tired of it because he never wanted to feel the agony again. There was a difference from being injured in yoroi and being injured in street clothes.

Rekka pushed himself off the ground wavering on his feet, using the demolished wall for support. Even if it is a dream he will fight back.

He pulled all his weight towards his punch. His side surged with pain but he ignored it. He had to admit his movements were a bit sluggish as he was having a hard time to block out the pain and center his thoughts on the fight at hand. He was well trained to do so just not in the middle of a dream. With any little movement on his hurt side it sent jolts of white-hot pain up his side and to the tips of his fingers.

The man stumbled backwards almost surprised. But he quickly recovered as the hit obviously didn't faze him at all. All what it seemed to do is make him even more pissed. He flipped the dagger over and with stunning speed delivered the final blow. The dagger sunk into the boy's unarmored side easily and deeply. Rekka doubled over as his free hand met his new wound. His breaths were raspy and erratic. With plenty of experience with the limits of his body and the blackness on the edges of his vision he knew he was in the last stages of passing out.

He looked blurily down to his hand as if not expecting to see the red liquid.

Blood, his blood.

He was kicked backwards against the street and didn't try to raise up. The pain it caused sent his head swimming. The man seized his left wrist and twisted it painfully until he released the yoroi crystal. He watched as the dark figure laughed again holding his red crystal in the air. The Kanji 'Righteousness' shining brightly as he crushed it in his hand allowing the smooth shards to be taken away in the wind.

"No!" he yelled weakly then blacked out.

He shot up gasping for breath. He reached for his side feeling the numb wounds from his dreams as cold sweat ran down his face. He grabbed a cup of water at his bedside, the glass shaking against his trembling hands. He tightened his grip to not drop it and gulped it down, then threw it against the wall. It shattered loudly and the shards sparkled in the streams of sunlight coming through his window.

"That's the seventh dream!" he cursed under his breath, waiting for the chills to go away.

The others would have to realize what has been bothering him so much by now. He truly didn't want to worry them. The relentless dreams continued to return every night. He knew very well that Seiji is beginning to sense the uneasiness in him. It wouldn't be that bad of a dream if he didn't witness his yoroi crystal being crushed. Crushed so easily. He opened his left hand to find it still shining brightly in his hand. Reassuring him nothing has happen yet that will put his yoroi in danger.

He returned the grip and rolled out of bed, quickly putting a shirt on and wondering if there was any breakfast still left downstairs. Byakuen was most likely chasing birds like any other overgrown cat whom happen to be a tiger.

Glancing in the mirror he solemnly took in his reflection. With the yoroi's demand on their body daily it was only natural they engulfed an entire kitchen in one day. Which also included sleeping. Yes, plenty of sleep. It got quite obvious when of them started to have bad nights with little rest. It didn't count for the early risers like Shin and Seiji who gawd forbid slept after nine in the morning. Put a fish tank in Shin's room and he's perfectly fine. For Seiji, when the sun rises so does its guardian. The rest sleep at their leisure, waking whenever suits them.

Thanks to naps he has been able to hide the physical warnings of a trooper not getting enough sleep. Not from Seiji, you can't hide anything from Seiji.

Well, he surely looked tired. He even went to bed early in hopes of getting more rest. It didn't go unnoticed when his usual routine of playing fighting games with Touma all night until both of them have crashed with the controller still in their hands. Touma was upset but quickly recovered when he talked Shin into battling him.

Scowling at the mirror like it was its fault, he left his room.

He walked by his blue-haired friend's room who was still deep in sleep. He smiled and kicked the door open. He figured Seiji to be the clean type since well… it was Seiji. Either he was just as bad as Touma or the archer was too much of an influence to handle. Touma, who had taken up writing, had papers and books absolutely everywhere in huge messy piles. Just like normal writers, Touma was no different. He'd been ecstatic over a dictionary… Who would ask for a dictionary for their birthday? Who in their right mind would be happy receiving a dictionary?

The guy was weird ever since he met him.

"Hey Touma," he called.

An incoherent grumble and a couple of curses were heard from the pile of blankets, pillows, and blue hair. Ryo took that as a good sign because that meant Touma wasn't in that bad of a mood this morning. Usually he gets violent if anyone tries to wake him.

"You can't sleep all day buddy." He leaned against the doorframe knuckling his eyes and yawning.

Oh yeah, definitely a nap. Eat Shin's cooking then take the couch for his own.

"You did," the blue-haired teen shot back, shoving a pillow over his head.

He frowned, what time is it? He didn't think he slept too long; his dreams never let him have more than seven hours of sleep. Though they did do some pretty tough training yesterday. He yawned, yes very hard training and not enough sleep.

"Are you going to eat anything?"

"I'll wake up later Ryo," he replied, obviously getting very annoyed. Though his threatening voice had long since became apart of Ryo's 'doesn't bother me' list he still continued to use it to show his dislike of being woke up and pestered.

"Fine let Shu eat it all," he laughed and closed Touma's door.

He heard the everyday arguing of Shu and Seiji, usually over the television or breakfast. Shu was wrestling for the remote while Seiji was nimbly deflecting his protests. Seiji looked away from his hardheaded friend and instantly met Ryo's gaze, studying him. Ryo, however, did not keep it. He hated when Seiji looked at him that way. He knew very well how easily Seiji could read other's feelings, and his consisted of worry, confusion, and nerves strung out way beyond their limits.

"Had another dream?" he asked simply.

Ryo looked startled and stared curiously at his friend. He never mentioned his dreams to anyone. He didn't think Seiji could possibly read his mind, his ability wasn't suppose to extend that far. Perhaps he just made it obvious in some confusing way that he can't think of at the moment because Seiji wouldn't quit looking at him that way and it was rattling his head.

"Don't we all dream?" he replied quickly. He never was a good liar; a bad liar in fact with his stupid inability to hide his stupid emotions.

Seiji shrugged and grabbed the remote from Shu and quickly dodged a hit coming his way. "I can sense it Ryo. You've had that same look all week, it's like you're on edge."

Seiji spoke bluntly when he was reading someone. As if saying, "You think you can hide it from me but I nail everything that's bothering you don't I?" It's just to prove the point.

"It's nothing to worry about," Ryo was on edge. He had a right to be.

"You can't keep your hands off your crystal for one minute," Shin said, suddenly appearing by his side. Shin was the other empath. Though his ability was no where near as strong as Seiji's, he just watched and had a natural intuition of other people's troubles. They just considered him one because it was heightened when they formed the bond.

Ryo cursed, he can't keep anything from his friends. But a smile appeared on his face. He really couldn't keep anything from them.

"It's nothing," he decided to change the subject noticing worry cross Shin's and Seiji's faces. Which was a very bad sign considering the predicament he was in. "Touma's still sleeping…"

"Is he now?" Shin asked, glancing up the stairs as if to make sure Ryo's statement was true. Seiji just scoffed and returned to his show on the human anatomy. Silently reviewing the status of today's events with Ryo.

"I already ate," Shu quit fighting for the remote and slumped back on the couch.

He knew the rest of the sentence and he was quick to respond.

"Natsuti brought breakfast since you and Touma slept all day. She said she will leave it in the fridge for you."