Konnichiwa, minna-san. Animefreak99-06 here. Yeah, I know, chapter 4 of this story was nowhere in sight. Well, here it is, I hope you like it. Oh, and if the story seems slow, well, that's because it is. Sorry, my stories are like that. And, if anyone out there is reading this story, please write a review and tell me what you think, I'm lonely without reviews. Not, I just really like people's input on things. Disclaimers: I don't own Samurai Troopers. I only own my own characters. Credits: Samurai Troopers belong to Sunrise and everyone else I'm to lazy to list. The following ideas are from the wonderful writing duo Mirror and Image, without their permission, I wouldn't be writing this story, ideas: Seiji as an elf, Shin as a merman, Shiten as a kitsune, and others that have yet to appear in this story. Personal Thanks: first and for most I wish to thank Mirror and Image for their wonderful stories and for being so kind and considerate to let me borrow a few of their ideas. Domo Arigato Gozimasu! And I wish to thank all my wonderful readers. Without your support, this story would just fester and die. Thank you everyone, I extremely appreciate your support. This chapter and the next few are going to be slow, just so you know.

The Magical Realm

Chapter 4 Painful Past

He was aware of black, and for what seemed like the longest time, that was all he saw. Then the next thing he was aware of was his older sister's voice calling to him. 'Kira? But she's dead. What's going on here?' He opens his eyes too see he is standing up near a forest, still wearing his clothes from the night before, looks up, and sees Kira standing next to him. 'She looks the same way she did before she died.' She stands there for a few seconds, before she giggles mischeviously to herself. And starts to creep slowly towards a tall tree. Ryo looks at the tree and recognizes it as the old maple tree as the one behind his old home. Kira continues to creep to the tree, and Ryo begins to wonder why. Then he blinks and sees someone is laying down beneath the tree. 'Wait, she's creeping up on someone? What is she doing? Unless... This whole scene seems familiar. So what the.. Oh no. I'm seeing an image from the past.' Kira stops her creeping as she gets within ten feet from the tree. Ryo gasps as he finally recognizes who's under the tree, himself as a child. Kira takes a deep breath and then yells,

"WAKE UP, SANADA RYO!" Ryo winces as he remembers this and sees his younger self wake up and nearly jump up into the tree. (Like those old cartoons where the character is asleep and instantly jumps several feet into the air.) Kira is holding her sides as she laughs as hard and as loud as she can. Young Ryo holds one hand to his chest as he tries to reclaim his lost breath. Once that was accomplished, he scowls at his older sister, and chooses to voice his opinion of his sister.

"Onee-san, how could you be so cruel like that? You almost gave me a heart attack. You're older than me, you should be mature enough to know not to do that." Then he lowers his head and looks like he might cry. Kira has stopped laughing by now and her expression has changed from mischevious laughter to regret. She extends her hand to her brother, an offering to help him up. He looks up at her then quickly looks back to the ground. Adult Ryo is still standing there, shakes his head, and sighs. 'Kira really did scare me, but she was just joking. Still, she was just getting me back for what I had done to her and Himeno earlier that day. Of course, I didn't know that at the time.' Turning his thoughts back to the scene unfolding before him, adult Ryo watches as Kira helps his younger self up and hugs him. He can't hear what she's telling him, but he certainly remembers it. 'Ryo, you know I would never do anything to hurt your feelings or scare you. You're my only remaining brother, and I love you. I just saw you asleep out here and thought I could get back at you for throwing water on me and Himeno earlier today. And I know you didn't do it on purpose, but since when has stopped me from getting revenge? I'm sorry, Ryo, it won't happen again, I promise.' Young Ryo smiles a cute little smile, that only cute nine year olds can. And he and Kira head back to their home, young Ryo running inside the house. Kira ruffles his hair as he passes and looks a little sad as she slowly walks behind her brother. Adult Ryo notices this and gasps before turning his head away in sadness. 'Kira knew what was going to happen. That's why she told me she loved me and that she wouldn't hurt me again. She knew she was going to die that night.' Adult Ryo can feel a tear falling down his face and he quickly wipes it away. 'If I'm seeing images from the past, it's only going to get worse from here.'

He blinks and sees his younger self sitting at the table eating with the rest of his family. He sees himself with his mother, his father, Kira and Himeno, his younger sister. After dinner has been eaten, his mother gathers the dishes and takes them to the sink. She grabs the poker, carefully pulls the out the metal arm that's holding a big pot, and, using her apron as a folded towel, lifts the handle of the pot off the arm. She pushes the arm back into the firepit, then moves back to the sink before slowly pouring the very warm water into the sink. (Am I weird or what? If you can't imagine the action with the pot, it's similar to the action Snow White uses to keep her food from boiling over in 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'. Don't ask, that's all I could think of.)

Ryo sees the steam rising from the water and realizes, for the hundredth time, that his mother's hands must have been immune to heat. Either that, or she burned her hands on a daily basis. He sighed when it occured to him that he couldn't remember wether her hands were bandaged or not. She grabs the soap and begins to hum as she dunks her hands into the water. Kira and Himeno stay in the kitchen to help their mother clean. Ryo and his father have departed the kitchen and are now in the living room. His father sits down in a chair and picks up a small piece of wood before withdrawing his knife.

Ryo has left the living room and goes into his room, grabs his boots, and a small round disk looking thing on a string. He puts the thing around his neck and the disk now looks like an odd looking pendant. He walks back to the living room and puts his boots on. By now Himeno and Kira have entered, leaving their mother to finish cleaning. Well, actually, she shooed them out of the kitchen. (Ryo has seen all of this as it's happening. He's currently in the living room.) They see young Ryo going towards the door and tell him to wait. Ryo's father tells Himeno that she's too little to go outside at night. She pouts, but listens to him. Kira runs to her room, grabs her boots, and runs back to the door. After putting them on, she and young Ryo say that they'll be back shortly and walk out the front door. Adult Ryo is still in the living room and no sooner does the door shut, then his mother walks into the room. She stares at the door and sighs. His father stops whitiling(sp?) and looks at her. Himeno has gone to the room she shares with her older sister. Ryo sees his parents are looking at each other before his mother walks over to her husband.

"What do you know, Suki? What's going to happen tonight?" She shakes her head as she tells him what she knows.

"I fear our two youngest will be lost to us tonight. One to be forced to help the shadows, or Arago and his minions. And the other will lose all, but his determination and courage." 'Wait a minute, what's all this about? Did mother know about this as well? Of course, it's from her that we get the ability to see images of the past, present, and the past. Well, in all honesty, we have this ability because God gave it to us. But mother was the one who taught us.'

"What do you mean, 'our two youngest will be lost to us'?"

"Himeno will be taken and Ryo will lose all else he holds dear to him."

"We won't let anyone get Himeno. I mean the only way they can get her is if we're... No. You mean, we're gonna...?" Yuki nods "And Kira too?" she nods again "And she knows, doesn't she?" nod " That explains why she went with Ryo to visit her grandmother's grave." Yuki nods one more time, before she turns to walk back into the kitchen. Ryo's father sighs sadly before returning to whitiling. Adult Ryo blinks and sees his young self and Kira at his grandmother's grave.

"Grandmother would be very happy if she saw your hair as long as it is." His hair isn't that long, but it is long enough to be pulled back into a ponytail. Young Ryo sticks his tongue out at Kira and she laughs at him, like she always does. 'We loved each other a lot. We argued like other families, but mostly when we argued, it was over something that was or wasn't safe for us. Such arguements over toys and such could lead to injuries, but we still loved each other.' Adult Ryo blinks again and sees his younger self tossing and turning in his sleep, while whimpering. He's having a premonition dream. Then he springs forward in his bed. A second later, his eyes are open and he's shaking. He hears a loud roar coming from outside and he stops shaking. He looks up at the window in his room. He quickly gets up and walks over to the window. He hears the roar again and he begins to look around outside. He knows of several animals and creatures that roar like that.

He stands still and closes his eyes. He tries to locate the source of the roar, before identifying a large white tiger named Byakuen as the source. Ryo relaxes as he opens his eyes,only to panic as he suddenly understands what Byakuen has told him. Trolls are approaching, at least eight and they look hungry. Ryo knows humans are the fourth youngest, with vampires as the third youngest. That means trolls are second youngest and werewolves are the youngest. Trolls are the much younger cousin of gargoyles, being that trolls are said to be born from the mountains, like gargoyles. However, they appear to be rock looking creatures that always keep the same appearance. They however are only able to move at night time, and the reason being that they somehow become solid stone in the light of the day. And unlike their older cousins, trolls are known for being very violent. Starting fires, destroying homes, eating farm animals, and sometimes humans. That's right, very dangerous, and eight of them were coming towards their home. Adult Ryo sees his younger self slowly back away from the window, before turning and running to his parents room. 'Even if mother, father and Kira knew, they were still going to fight.'

He blinks again and finds himself outside standing on the hill some distance form the house. He senses someone behind him and he sees someone dressed in a cape standing there watching the house. The figure pushes his hood back and Ryo sees a messy looking mop of blonde hair. On the neck of this handsome looking elf is a mark that Ryo uses to identifiy that this elf is the one who can manipulate light. 'Wait, I met this elf as a child?' a sharp whistle causes the elf to turn around and Ryo sees another elf walking up the other side of the hill.

"High and Wise Leader, why have you bought me here? This is the farm of a human family. So, why not bring one of your sons, or even Touma instead of me."

"Seiji, I have my reasons for bringing you here. But for the time being, I wish to keep them secret." Seiji looks down at the ground.

"I'm truly sorry my leader. I am deeply embarassed by my words. I was only curious. I didn't mean to question you." The leader places his right hand on Seiji's left shoulder and laughs. A noise causes the two of them to look down at the house. Two young children come running out and Ryo realizes the children are his younger self and Kira. Now he was a little confused as to why he saw this after he saw the image of Byakuen warning him of the trolls. Another blink and Ryo sees that his mother is running his younger self to the kitchen. She gives him his twin swords and a small bag of clothes before she pushes him into a cabinet. She tells him everything will be okay, and to stay in there until the rustling noises have died down before opening the door and running with all he had.

(Another thing about trolls, they are slow runners and get slower as the sun comes up.) She makes him promise and then tells him she and the others all love him.Young Ryo starts to cry and adult Ryo sadly watches as his mother and father try to stand up to the trolls. They don't last long and as their bodies hit the floor, Kira comes running in the kitchen and swings her fans at them. She lasts long enough to draw their attention away from the kitchen. Then out of nowhere a vampire comes and bites her. Adult Ryo is shocked as he sees this. He knew his parents were killed by trolls, but he thought trolls killed Kira as well. Now he knew better, it was a vampire that killed his sister.

As Kira is trying to keep from crying out at the intense pain, a scream alerts the trolls to another part of the kitchen. Kira, in her struggles, and in an effort to keep them from finding Himeno, knocks over a lantern. And within a few minutes the entire house is in flames. The vampire drops Kira in order to get out of the house. No sooner does the fire start to spread, does one of the Trolls knocks the big heavy metal pot in front of the cabinet that Ryo's hiding in, effectively blocking him in. The trolls have found the source of the scream and just as they're about to kill Himeno, the vampire stops them, telling them, she will be of good use to them. He grabs her and flies out the ceiling. Adult Ryo sees this and is sad that Himeno was captured because she could see things, like her mother and older siblings. He's also happy because she could still be alive.

Then he hears a loud banging and remembers that his younger self is still stuck in the cabinet. Ryo remembers how he almost didn't get out. But he sees the pot slide out of the way of doors and a small nine year old boy emerges and stands up. He turns to run out the house when he sees his dead parents. He closes his eyes as a few tears slide down his face, before he runs out of the house. He realizes he has broken his promise, but he's sure that his mother would understand. He takes a quick look at his house before he runs with all his might. It's only then that he notices it's raining very hard and has been for at least fifteen minutes. Ryo is standing outside watching his younger self try to hold on to everything and run at the same time. He hears something and looks up to see Byakuen has come to his rescue.

He climbs up on Byakuen's back and holds on tightly as Byakuen runs away from the farm house. Adult Ryo sees that the rain has let up, but is still coming down. In a matter of what seems like a few seconds to adult Ryo, it had been a few hours to young Ryo. Young Ryo and Byakuen had been running deeper and deeper into the forest all this time, and back in order to get away from trolls, werewolves and other such creatures. Well, young Ryo was so shocked at what he had seen, he forgot his mother had given him a small cloak. Adult Ryo could see what was happening and he knew his younger self was going to pass out. And sure enough, young Ryo slide off Byakuen's back. The tiger grabbed the young boy's leg and carefully pulled him towards a small cave. Which happened to be where they were heading anyway. Byakuen had been trying to take Ryo somewhere same, but they kept getting cut off, so he headed to the last safe place to take the boy. Adult Ryo saw the cave enterance and could just barely make out a figure in the shadows. Byakuen stopped pulling young Ryo and looked up to see who was there to stop them this time. After a few seconds, Byakuen turned back to Ryo and continued to pull him in the cave.

Another blink and Ryo saw his young self laying on Byakuen's side, and his face is a slight pink. He's in front of a small fire and has his cloak spread over him like a blanket. He hears a noise and sees someone walking towards his younger self. As the figure comes into the light of the fire, adult Ryo identifies him as the leader. 'He's carrying a bowl, it looks like.' As he reaches young Ryo, he sits down on the cave floor, placing the bowl beside him. He pulls a folded piece of cloth out of the bowl and rings it out. 'The bowl has water in it?' He places the cloth on young Ryo's fore head, causing him to stir. He blinks his eyes open, trying to clear his vision. When he spots the elfen leader, he immediately tries to take offense. But, when he tries to sit up, he gets dizzy, and falls back down, waking Byakuen in the process.

The elf laughs at him and explains to him who he is. When Ryo doesn't believe him, he explains that if he wanted to hurt Ryo, he would only have to leave him where he was. And besides, Byakuen would have tried to attack him. Ryo accepted this and started to fight sleep, but the High and Wise Leader would have none of that. He placed the first fingers of his right hand to Ryo's fore head. Less then a few seconds go by before he is asleep. The next blink and adult Ryo saw his younger self waking up in Sakura's parents home. When he told them what had happened, they told him that they already knew and, to the best of their ability, had buried the bodies of his family members. He was told that he was going to stay with them from now on.

Adult Ryo blinked one last time and saw himself standing on the balcony of a room in a forest. 'This hasn't happened. It must be a premonition of something yet to come.'

And that's all for now folks. Yeah, I know, a cliffhanger. Well, I'm really sorry. And as for the time of each of these different scenes: Scene 1 was late evening, around sunset. Scenes 2 & 4 are about 9:00pm or so. Scene 3 is 4:30am. Scene 5 is about 5:15am. Scene 6 is about 8:00am. Scene 7 is about 10:00am. Scene 8 is a week later at about 4:30pm. And scene 9 is a few days off at around 11:45am. Oh, and one more thing, the past scenes and the setting for this story are late spring. Don't worry, Ryo will be okay. And Seiji and Touma will be seen again in the next chapter. Ja Na.