The Torrent Settles

A/N: Yay me! I got the 1st chapt of my fic up! I don't own the Ronins but the character of Azia is mine. This chapt is rated for everyone to read. Please R&R and let me know how you like this chapt so I can decide whether I should add the second. I also want to point out that I made up a place where Cye Mouri was born. If anyone knows the proper place where he was born and where he grew up let me know so I can fix it before I get kicked or sued for it. Cheers!

CHAPTER 1

The Han' A High courtyard was buzzing with action late in this afternoon. Student upon student ran around wishing all of the school teams good luck in the upcoming finals of the respected sports.

Cye Mouri, the eighteen-year-old bearer of the Armor of Torrent was one of the team members getting good luck slaps from the guys and smiles form the girls. His good friend, Ryo Sanada, was another. Cye was one of the best swimmers on the boy's swim team, having the fastest time. Ryo was a soccer player, one of the better ones, but he does get beat out every now and then.

It was Friday afternoon and Cye waited with Ryo at the courtyard fountain for their other friends to meet up with them to have a Friday night get-together with their girlfriends.

"Where are they?" Ryo asked irritated, looking at his watch for the umpteenth time. "It never took them this long to meet us."

"Chill, man." Cye said while splashing his hot headed friend with the cool water of the fountain. "They'll be here. So they're late; big deal. Just sit back down and wait."

"But I was supposed to meet Sam ten minutes ago."

Cye only sighed. Sam was a foreign exchange student form America on a program for their Japanese class. Ryo was the first person she laid eyes on when she got into the Tokyo airport considering he was the one who had to pick her up and drop her off at her temporary home. Their eyes met and they just clicked, then one month later they are serious about each other. Sam is a hothead just like Ryo and they suit each other perfectly. Apart from being a hothead, she has a very good and charming personality and knows how to pick someone up when they're down. She's also on the girl's swim team. Other times, she acts like her Yankee heritage.

While thinking about Sam, his other thought went to the rest of his friends' girlfriends. Sage Date, Armor of Halo, finally managed to settle on one girl instead of dating a girl a day. No, the lucky girl to snag Sage happens to be another foreign exchange student from Albuquerque New Mexico. Dania is a shy girl, but very easy to get along with. Even though she and Sage like to be around each other and do things like they were dating, they would both deny it as soon as the subject comes up.

Then there was Anna. How Kento was even able to find her was beyond Cye's understanding. She is basically a female version of Kento when it comes to a good video game or a good kick-ass fight with someone. But she's the complete opposite when it came to food. She always kept Kento in check, never letting him over-stuff himself. As a matter of fact, Kento lost about ten pounds after meeting her.

Anna is a pure born Japanese girl. She was born and raised in Japan, but moved to the United States with her family and lived there for about six years before they packed up and hightailed it back to good old Japan. Kento was grateful because nobody matches Kento as well as she does.

As for Rowan, Armor of Strata, he met his chick friend in the one place that is his second home. Jay Lee has a part time job at the Tokyo library and she looks forward to seeing Rowan every day since she doesn't go to their school. Jay Lee's love for books and literature caught Rowan by the brain stem. She is a very pretty girl with an attitude to show for it and an aptitude to make Rowan proud. Even though she was born in Korea, her family moved to Japan due to her father's job promotion.

After thinking about all of this, Cye couldn't help but feel semi- left out. He was single, and sometimes he thought he would always be that way. When he was younger, he tried to find a relation with a girl. It was hard for him, and it got harder after getting pulled into the Dynasty Wars. But that was about three years ago, and the group has long since hung up their armors. Now it was harder than ever, so he just gave up and spent as much time he could with his friends before they decide to tie the knot with their girls and move on.

Sage and Ryo have a different idea though. They saw how alone Cye was and would try to hook him up with every girl they think would be a perfect match. None of them turned out that way but they did some close. However, she ended up moving back to Russia because of her being an illegal import. Cye didn't talk to Ryo or Sage for weeks after that incident. He couldn't even remember what her name was.

Ryo grumbled under his breath when he looked back at his watch. According to his grumble, it was already ten minutes past four in the afternoon, and the guys have yet to show. Cye laid down on the edge of the fountain and watched the clouds to go by as Ryo pulled out his cell and dialed a number. Cye figured that by the way he said "hello" into the phone that he was talking to Sam and letting her know why they were late and asking if she could meet them by the courtyard fountain. He hung up and dialed furiously as he tried to contact the others to yell at them.

After another ten minutes, Ryo sat down on the edge of the fountain and made a huffing sound of annoyance. Cye lifted his head to look at his friend.

"Well?" he asked.

"Sage went to pick up Dania, Kento is stuck in traffic with Anna and Rowan forgot that Jay Lee was working late. Sam was running late as well so I had her meet us here. The others said they would contact either you or me if they can't get here within twenty minutes and to just head right over to the mall and they'll meet us there."

Cye only nodded and laid his head back down.

-One Week Later-

"Honey, you have to get to bed now if you want to make your flight tomorrow." A woman with a strong English accent said from downstairs.

"Okay, Mum." A girl answered in a similar accent. "Everything is down in the main foyer ready to head out to Tokyo."

Alvina slipped into the warm thermal bedding of her twin size bed in Cardiff England. Tomorrow, she was to get on a plane bound to Tokyo Japan. Why she even went along with her mother's idea of becoming a foreign exchange student was beyond her, but her mother said it would be a good idea to see what living where her father did all his life was like. Alvina loved her father dearly, and she just guessed that it was this love that had her say yes. She wasn't scared of the language barrier. Her father talked to her in Japanese and her mother talked in English, so she learned both languages and could speak both fluently. She eve served as a translator when her father would slip into his native tongue.

Before she turned off her lamp, she smiled at the picture of her Father smiling back at her.

"I love you, Papi." She said in Japanese before turning off the light. She rolled around and snuggled under her comforter. Her black cat, Salem, lay down under her chin. Her father had given him to her as a gift. She named him Salem because he reminded her of the Salem character on Sabrina the Teenaged Witch. She loved that cat, and her followed her like a devoted friend, and for the occasional tuna she would give him as a treat.

Speaking of tuna and all things from the water world, she was looking forward to the surfing possibilities she could get when in Japan. She loved to surf, and the surf in Cardiff was okay, but she wanted real action. But falling asleep with considerations about where she would stay and if the people would be nice was making her nervous. She didn't know if they would allow Salem, but she didn't care. Salem was coming no matter what.

Alvina waved to her mother as she ran to the gate that housed her plane. She was running late because of the registration of having a pet on board. After it was all settled, she only had minutes to get to the gate and into her seat. Lucky for her they had to delay the plane because another passenger got sick and had to be escorted off the flight.

Once aboard, she looked out the window to see her mother standing by the glass looking area in the airport. From the angle she was sitting, her mother would not be able to see her, but Alvina saw her mother praying she would be okay. Her mother made her swear that she would call as soon as she got to her hosting home, no matter what time it was.

The flight had already lifted off and was on its way to Tokyo. Alvina sat back and took out her sketchbook out and continued her recent sketch of the sea. She loves the sea, the creatures and everything. She loves how calm it is one minute and can turn into a tempest the next and just as easily return to calmness. She often described herself as the sea, and if you got to know her, which was rare, you would say the same.

But she didn't have friends trustworthy enough for her to confide her secrets to them. She had secrets like everyone else, but these were different. She would soon find herself in the insane asylum or as a specimen to the government agencies dealing with the paranormal. She had abilities that were abnormal to the human race. One of these abilities were to take in tons of information as soon as she hears it. That's why she was the smartest student anywhere in England. She's only a junior, but she takes senior classes.

But she learns more than that. She's also a part of a gang that roam the streets at night. She doesn't hang with them so much. But her attitude could make her seem the part. She's a master at picking locks and getting out of tight situations. She was pretty much a master at anything. Martial arts, dancing, singing, anything you can think of in the arts department. But these were okay to let people know about. She just had to make sure her tempest side was always under wraps, as well as anything she does in the water. She was on the swim team in her school in Cardiff, but she's able to control her actions.

I wonder if the high school I'm gonna attend has a swim team? She thought. She looked out the window and saw that the plane had landed somewhere to refuel. She neither wondered nor cared where she was, but she just thought that she was only half way to her new home for the remainder of the school year.

Cye had just gotten out of the showers after doing practice laps with the team. As he was drying off, he listened in on the conversation the other members were having about the new exchange student who was scheduled to arrive sometime around ten that night.

"The teachers say this guy is the best swimmer where he comes from," a dirty blond boy said

"I heard it was a girl, and that she was the best gymnast the world has ever seen"

"I thought she was an art student."

"No. He's a musician."

"I saw a picture, and she's a babe."

"You guys are starting to sound like the girls," Cye said as he walked to his locker. "Are you sure you don't want to be the girl's locker room?"

"Watch what you say Muori," a tough guy said. Darres Hiarai was the second best swimmer on the guys' team next to Cye, and he hates it when he looses to him by mere seconds. He's taller than Cye by about three inches and outdoes him in strength by fifty bench pressing pounds, and his body is lean enough to slip through the water as fast as he could go. Cye gets only little enjoyment from pissing him off, but he doesn't take it too far to start a physical fight. He hates fighting.

"Why should I?" Cye asked, going out on thin ice.

"Because it's gonna get you hurt, punk." Darres leaned against the locker next to Cye's and stared at him with almost black eyes. "Why would you even care about the exchange student? If it were a girl, you wouldn't care 'cause you can't even hold onto one to save your life. If it was a guy, you might care if he was faster than you in the water. That would only give me something to rub in your face."

Cye quickly dressed and closed his locker. He just wanted to get out of there. He hated Darres, and Darres knew that. That's why he messed with him. Cye only pissed him off for something to do, but he hated fighting. Being thrown into the Dynasty Wars did nothing to help that, but strengthen his hate for the violence. He only fought because that was what he had to do at the time for the greatest good. He doesn't even like the idea of Kento and Anna playing those combat games.

Cye would be just perfectly happy swimming in any body of water or cooking in front of the stove for the rest of the gang. Which brought him to the subject of what he was going to make for dinner that night, and how much food he needed to make. He knew that the girls were coming over to watch a movie, so that meant he needed to make enough for nine people. He didn't have to worry about Mia because she was in the US on some kind of internship of some sort.

Not to mention that he had to stop at the butcher shop to get fresh meat for White Blaze. Sometimes, he hated cooking for the group, and even more so cause now he had to make double the amount what the girls come over.

The last class of the day was finally here and about twenty minutes before the last bell rang, he was called down to the office. He walked out of the room so some snickering people who thought he was in trouble for something or other. He tuned them out as he made his way down the hall to the main office on the first floor. The good thing was that the call would take the rest of the time of the day so he could go straight to his locker at the end of the day that was on the same floor.

He walked into the office and the receptionist pointed her pen towards the Headmaster's office door and he took a gulp for courage just in case he was in trouble. He walked through the door and found the Headmaster quickly writing something down on a sheet of paper. He looked up and smiled and pointed to a chair in front of his desk. Cye walked up to the desk and quickly bowed before sitting.

"Mouri-san," the Headmaster said cheerfully. "I have a job for you. But, I need to know if you have your drivers license."

"Yes," he said. "What can I do?"

"The Headmaster handed him a manila envelope and sat back in his chair. Cye opened it and took out the contents of the package, realizing immediately that they were Foreign Exchange papers.

"Her name is Alvina Hoppkins," the Headmaster continued. "She is currently on her way here and will arrive at the Tokyo National Airport around quarter to ten this evening. I want you there to greet her and transport her to your place where Ryo said it would be okay to have her. She is going to finish her junior year here even though she is taking senior courses, so she will practically be taking every class you have. I had her class schedule arranged so you or one of your friends will be with her at all times to help her and show her around."

Cye's mouth fell open when he heard this. He was called away from a study hall and a nice snooze to be told he had to play chauffeur for an exchange student who probably doesn't speak Japanese really well? This was crazy.

Ryo, he thought. You and Sage better not be connected in this or so help me I will skin you both alive and feed you to a shark.

"Is there a picture of her so I could pick her out of the crowd?" he asked.

"She didn't send one. You'll have to make a lucky guess."

At that moment, the bell rang for the dismissal of the students for the new weekend and Cye stood up and bowed again before leaving, thinking every nasty word he could think of.

"Who are you two? Lost descendants of Lady Yenta or something? What's the matter with you and Sage? Can't you two take a hint that I'm done with being the guinea pig of your matchmaking experiments?"

Cye followed Ryo around the guestroom as they prepared it for the foreign guest they were hosting. Ryo kept quiet as Cye continued to rant on about their next experiment. Sage came in without a care with clean bed sheets and helped Ryo with the bed.

"I really hope this one works," Sage whispered to Ryo.

"Shut up Sage," Cye said. "Look you guys, I appreciate what you are trying to do for me, I really do. But you gotta stop. I doubt there is even a girl out there for me, but if there is, I want to find her myself. That means 'without your help'. Besides, the season finals are drawing closer and I can't have my mind on a girl right now. I want to concentrate on the team, and winning first for the guys' team. I mean, I would rather win it for the team than let Darres win it for himself and rub it in my face for the rest of the year."

When Cye noticed that the two weren't listening, he threw up his arms in defeat and left.

"Fine," he called from the hall. "Someone else can cook dinner tonight and do the dishes. And it better not be burnt or you are ALL going on diets."

It took him almost forty-five minutes to get to the Tokyo National Airport and find the gate to the incoming flight Alvina would be on. He wrote her name in Japanese on a cardboard sign and prayed that she spoke Japanese. The file didn't contain where she was coming from, with was a major pain. The only other language he knew was English, but with her name, he figured she didn't know it. He sat down on the provided seats and waited for the flight to arrive, thinking about all the different ways he was going to get back at Ryo and Sage. He was able to come up with ten different ways from the top of his head.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost quarter to ten. He looked out to see the plane being pulled to the elevated walkway. He stood up when he saw the first person get off the plane. As the large group of passengers piled out of the hallway, he held up the sign and prayed more that Alvina could read Japanese.

The plane had almost emptied when Cye was beginning to think he missed her. He did a quick scan of the crowd and looked back by the door to see a beautiful girl standing there. She had short straight golden orange hair and deep exotic blue eyes with a creamy complexion. She carried a tout bag that had a printed ocean scene with seashell straps. She wore a short white jean skirt and a white tank top that revealed her bellybutton piercing and a mouth-watering amount of cleavage. She had a blue denim jacket over that.

One of the things Cye noticed were her long and nicely sculpted legs. From where he was standing, they were smooth and silky looking. All in all, her body looked like a swimmer's, lean but not skinny. He saw her take a quick scan around the room, and she walked over to him when she saw the sign he was holding.

"Please tell me you speak Japanese or English." He cures himself for saying that, but he needed to know.

"Both," she answered. "And what ever happened to 'Hi, welcome to Japan, my name is…'?" Cye quickly recovered from his shock of hearing her speak Japanese fluently like she was speaking it her whole life. He held out her hand and shook her gently.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm Cye Mouri and I'm here to take you to your temporary home." She has really soft hands.

"You can let go now." Cye jumped and pulled his hand away and quickly discarded the sign. He guided her to where the bags were and grabbed tow of her suitcases while she grabbed the third and made their way over to the Specialty Cargo hold where Cye gave her a strange and nervous look when he met her cat Salem.

"I hope it was all right that I brought him," she said apologetically. "My Mum doesn't like him very much and he would have given her a bloody hell of a bad time."

"So which is your natural language?" Cye asked as they made their way to the car.

"Both," she said. "My Mum id English. My Dad's Japanese. They taught me to speak both."

"Same thing here," Cye said. "Well, my Dad's English and my Mum's Japanese."

"What are the odds of that?" Alvina laughed as she slipped into English. She unleashed Salem from his cage and set him on the ground by her feet so she could help Cye with the bags.

"Won't he run away?" Cye wondered, looking at the small animal.

"Don't worry about him," she said putting the last bag in the trunk. "He's like a dog. He'll follow me everywhere."

Cye decided to her like a fellow Englishwoman and opened the passenger side for her. She smiled at him and set herself in the car. Cye waited for Salem to set himself on Alvina's lap before closing the door and making his way over to the driver's side. He started the car and drove out onto the road back to the Koji manor. He wanted to know more about the person beside him, and he knew he had to start the conversation somehow.

"So…" he started coming to a red light. "What part are you from? Your exchange file didn't say."

"As a country, England. As a city or town, I was born in London and I grew up in Cardiff. What about you?"

"I was born here in Tokyo. After a while my parents moved to London and there I spent a good portion of my childhood. Then I moved back here with my Mum after my parents' divorce. I still talk to my dad and all, but not very much."

"Wow, sorry about the divorce."

"Yeah, me too."

Cye made a left turn onto the dirt road leading to the manor. The streetlights illuminated the cherry blossom trees that lined both sides of the road. Alvina glued her face to the window to see the beauty in the trees she had never seen in person before. Cye chuckled and parked the car with the others belonging to his friends. On the other side of the lot were two other cars that belong to two of the girls.

"They're only budding," Cye said as he and Alvina gathered her things. "Give it about another month ad they'll be in full bloom."

"I bet it's a beautiful sight," she said in awe. Salem meowed in agreement.

"It's pretty spectacular, but hell to clean up. But, this is Mia's home and she does what she wants."

Cye walked slowly so he could prepare her for the possible welcoming party if there was one. Alvina paid close attention and repeated everything to make sure she understood and got everything right. When they finally made it to the front door, Alvina froze and in the darkness, Cye noticed she went very pale.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, placing his hand on her arm.

"Just dead scared out of my mind." She whispered truthfully.

"Don't be," he reassured her. "They guys are cool. Besides, the Headmaster of the school your gonna be going to has put me in charge of looking after you. If they bother you in any way, let me know and I'll talk to them."

After getting a shaky nod from Alvina, he opened the front door that opened to the living room. He turned on the light and instead of a crazy welcoming, he got scolded by the guys and their girls for turning on the light and interrupting their movie. He threw them all dirty looks and allowed Alvina to walk through the door before closing it.

"Guys, this is Alvina Hoppkins. She's the foreign exchange student from England. Alvina, I want you to meet my friends and their girlfriends. On the couch is Kento Rei Faun and his girlfriend Anna Hyou. On the floor over there is Rowan Hasiba and he girlfriend Jay Lee Yun. Sitting on the love seat is Ryo Sanada and his girl Samantha, or Sam, Novell and lastly, that is Sage Date and his… uh… friend, Dania Knotts. Sam and Dania are also foreign exchange students that attend Han' A High. Ryo is on the school's Soccer team and Sam is on the girls swim team. I'm on the guys swim team."

"Hey," they all said at once.

"Hi, nice to meet all of you."

"Sorry for interrupting the movie. Come on Alvina, I'll show you where your room is."

Cye took a detour through the kitchen and Alvina followed him up the stairs to the second floor. Once up there, she followed Cye down the hall past a bathroom and five bedroom door, each painted a different color and each having a symbol engraved in the wood. She recognized the symbols and named them as she passed her herself.

Wildfire, Halo, Strata, Hardrock and Torrent.

"Are you guys interested in the Ronin Warriors too?" she asked. Cye froze midway opening the guestroom door.

"Why do you ask that?" he asked with a shaking voice he could barely cover.

"The symbols on the other doors. Each of them represents one of the Warriors' armors. My Papi told me stories when I was little and I used to think they were real. Weird huh? But I did do some research and rumors are said that they do exist after all. I learned all about the myths and legends. They were called the Elementals or something, and that four other mystical armors were called the Seasonals. But to me, they're just stories I listened to when my father was still around."

"Your parents are divorced too?" Cye asked, calming down when he realized the secret was still safe.

"My dad was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was cashing a check at the bank when a bank robber freaked when someone tried to disarm him. My dad was shot three times and died on the scene."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Yeah, me too."