Disclaimer: I do not own the Ronin Warriors.
Chapter Three
"Oi!" Amiga came dashing into the room. "Lea, you busy?" She demanded.
Sage looked up from sitting by the window with his lunch. He had decided to stay in his own room with several friends to review noted for a test after the small recess. Lea had been sitting at her desk the whole time, having neglected her own lunch to look over her notes.
"Uh…no…" She said, startled as Amiga reached out and dragged her from the seat.
"Come on! Bring your lunch!" She smiled gleefully. Lea reached back, snatching up the bag as she was rushed out of the room.
Kemishema looked back to his study buddies and sighed. "Something must be up if Amiga is dragging students out of class again."
"That is the first sign of her and some other people scheming again." Yuo muttered. "I mean, new student, prime suspect for a match making contest."
Sage sat there, his sandwich dangling from his mouth as he watched this conversation go back and forth between the group. He was well aware of the scheming that went around this place when Amiga was involved. There was no doubt in his mind that she and her friends were setting the young woman up with someone.
He looked down at his notes and sighed. Though they sat next to each other all day in class, there was no way in hell she was going to talk to him. All he got when he tried to start a conversation was a severe glare—
"Sage, what did you do to piss her off?"
Sage looked up. "What?"
"Aw come on man, I keep seeing her burn daggers through your head when you try to talk to her." Kemishema pointed out. "I don't see in the back of the room and not notice this."
"Yeah man, what happen?"
Sage shook his head. "I don't know. She hasn't talked civil to me since I shook her hand on the first day of class."
"Wow." Yuo whistled. "That is weird."
Not as weird as you think. Sage thought as he crammed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. "Could you pass me my tea?" He asked.
"So, I'll see you around?"
Lea tried to smile, without looking slightly exasperated. "Um…yeah! Sure thing Kedo." She waved at him as pathetically as she could as he gave her a foolish grin and left his class room.
Lea's shoulders slumped as she heard some giggles from outside the door. Her head snapped around and glared at the onlookers. "Amiga! What the hell—" Her yell was met with the scuffling of feet making a mad dash away from the door.
She let out an aggravated sigh and gritted her teeth together in annoyance. The young woman looked down at her lunch and scratched her head.
"Jesus Christ, what the hell is it with these people…" Lea muttered as she went to pick up her meal. Just as she touched the box, her eyes widen in surprise.
"You plan on helping Kedo with his English?"
Lea whipped around to see Ryo standing in the back of the room with the closet door opened a crack behind him. He crossed his arms and watched her carefully.
"What the hell are you—"
"I had Amiga and Kedo set this up. They didn't know I was using them to catch you off your guard." Ryo stated. He started walking forward, and much to his surprise, Lea remained rooted in the ground. She looked ready to bore holes through his chest.
"Look, if I was a warlord, you know damnwell that I would not hold back attacking you in this building." Ryo said. "I don't want to fight you all. I just want to talk."
Lea repositioned her footing and huffed in aggravation. "Gonna look strange when people start coming into this room and we're yelling at each other about armors."
Ryo sighed in frustration a little, getting severely annoyed. There was only so far his patience was going to go before he wanted to knock some sense into her. He looked up at the clock and growled. He didn't have the time to do this before Cye or Rowen came in looking for him.
"Listen. I will meet you alone." Ryo said. "I will leave Sage and the others out if this makes you uncomfortable." He said, walking up to her.
Lea's eyes flickered with surprise. There were others?
Ryo kept walking, going past her only enough to stop for a second.
"There is a lake at the base of Fuji. Meet me there this weekend. Bring what ever you want. I am bringing my armor and nothing else." He murmured to her.
Lea blinked several times as she heard the invitation. When she turned to look back, Ryo was already out the door and gone. Voices outside sounded like a few of his friends had just arrived.
He had just kept her from being spotted by his own comrades.
Lea stood there, silenced.
Cye leaned into the office and smiled a little. "Oi, Mia."
Mia looked up from her computer and smiled. "Cye! You made it over here!"
Cye nodded as he came in and set a few book by her desk. "I had some time to stop by the library and check these out for you." He said. "I would have been here sooner though."
Mia picked up one thick book and looked at it's cover carefully. "Hum. Mythos of the Bushido Era. Ah, this was certainly written by one of the men my Grandfather conferenced with." She opened it up and started skimming the chapter titles. "So, did the others make it home safe?" She asked.
Cye nodded as he leaned on the counter and also started looking through a book. "Yes. Rowen came with me though. He is over in the library now, doing more research with the references."
Mia opened the book to a page and started looking it over. "This is a recap of my grandfather's material. There doesn't seem to be a great deal here."
"Was he known for keeping his research to himself?" Torrent asked as he kept looking through the book. He was glancing over the index.
"Some parts of it…such as the white armor's information and the Heart of Ancients. He was determined though that if he told enough historians, they would help him find the current Ronin Warriors."
"Is that so." Cye murmured as he opened to a different page. "Hey, I think I might have something…"
Mia took the book from him and began to read it. "Hum…it's very vague though.
Cye mumbled a little bit as he looked at the computer in front of her. It was covered with post-its and key words she had been using as she was deciphering the data left over from her grandfather's research. He didn't understand why the man told people so much, but kept files like this cryptic.
The door opened again and Rowen came in, running. "I found something!"
Mia looked up from the book and took the photocopies from Rowen's hands. At the same time, Strata rammed a disk into her waiting paws. "This should help you break down the codes faster. I just finished putting the final touches on it this afternoon before I left the school."
Mia looked at the disk and gave it back to him. She stood up and moved out of her chair for Rowen to sit down and begin installing the package. "Thank you Rowen. I didn't realize you were doing this."
"It came to me a few days ago while tryin' to fight with this old program. This should update the files and allow us faster processin' time. There is also a Key Cyper built in that will allow you to generate key words needed to unlock more information." He informed as he worked furiously at the keyboard. "Look at those notes though!"
Mia and Cye started to look over the photocopies. Bright highlighter covered the most releviant information.
" 'It is believed that six hundred years ago, a monk forged nine armors and bestowed upon them the powers of human virtues. But there is also reason to believe that in the Old Capital, Kyoto, contains rumbles of another set of armors. These armors, regarded as the Protectors of Warriors…or Guardians as they have been dubbed were made by a neighboring clan of monk who were indebted to the previous creators of the so called Ronin Warrior armors'." Mia stopped reading and looked up in surprise. "Rowen! Where did you find this?"
Rowen turned in the chair as the computer ate away at his program. "Your grandfather and a professor in Osaka wrote that article together."
Mia blinked in shock. "A professor in Osaka?" She demanded.
"Yeah." Rowen sighed. "But the man…recently passed away." He said quietly.
Cye straightened. "You're sure?" He asked.
"I call the University myself." Rowen said. "Accordin' to the recent news, the man passed away by natural causes. He was just slightly older than Mia's grandfather."
"You don't believe it." Cye stated, crossing his arms.
Strata nodded. "There was talk that the man was possibly murdered."
Mia looked down at the papers and then back to her computer, just as Rowen turned to it again and hit the key generator feature. He typed in some details and commanded it to begin processing.
"This might take awhile." He whispered, his eyes widening.
"I thought you said it would go faster." Cye said.
"I didn't realize there was so much data." He pointed to the new status report of the file Mia was working at. "There is a lot of damage because of the age of the files and the machines were workin' on." He informed. "But while this is chewing at that, let's see about gettin' some more information from that professor."
Kento came wondering down stairs to see Sage sitting at the dinning room table. He yawned and scratched his tummy as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice and began to drink it right from the container.
Sage looked up from his newspaper. "Do you have any domesticated values?"
Hardrock shook his head. "I'll at least finish it off so no one has to drink after me." He said sleepily. He stared at the front page of the paper as Sage went on reading.
He turned at the sound of scratching at the door. Behind him was Whiteblaze itching to be let out the sliding porch door. He rubbed his chin a little before getting up and walking to the door with the orange juice in his big hand.
"Where's Ryo?" Kento asked.
Sage shrugged. "He was gone this morning." He said. "I think he went for a stroll in the woods."
Kento nodded. "Strange he would leave Whiteblaze behind like that." He mumbled opened the door and let the tiger out. The animal took off running across the lawn and gone into the forest.
Halo flipped the paper back. "You know what, that is kind a strange." He said.
"Yeah." Kento blinked himself a wake.
Sage watched him carefully as they drew the same conclusion.
Ryo wondered carefully through the forest, making his way towards the lake that he had mentioned the day before. His sub armor was concealed for the time being under some loose clothing and a leather coat from storage. He had spent most of the morning walking and running the distance from the Koji Manor outside of Shinjuku to the volcano's base.
The Ronin leader bushed aside the brushed and stepped out into the open banks of the lake. He was surprised there were no campers out enjoying themselves and at the same time reveled in the privacy.
He stood there in the warm sun and cool breeze by the lake, watching the water sparkle in the middle of the afternoon.
He was rethinking what the ancient had shared with him and the others the previous night. He didn't understand how anything could be causing trouble now with Talpa dead and gone. The Warlords and Lady Kayura had returned to the City of Desires in the Dynasty to rebuild. There was no way there could be anyone out to attack them.
Unless it was Lea…
A twig snapped behind him.
Ryo whipped around to see Lea standing in the middle of the brush line, dressed in a jean jacket and boat neck shirt. And instead of the usual skirt, she was wearing jeans and sneakers.
"I didn't think you'd come."
Lea stared at him, crossing her arms. "I almost didn't."
"What made you?" Ryo asked. "If you don't trust Sage and I, what made you come out here to meet me alone."
Lea remained silent.
Ryo sighed a little in dismay, rubbing the back of his neck with cool armored fingers. "I'm sorry we seem to have gotten off to a bad start." He said. "Listen, we're not warlords. We're the Ronin Warriors." He explained. "There are five of us who live here. We protect the mortal Realm from the Dynasty and their invasions."
Lea blinked at him, emotionless. "I said it was going to take a lot more than words to convince me that you're not a warlord."
Ryo reached up to his coat and pulled it back, revealing his sub armor underneath. "I'm the Ronin Warrior of Righteousness." He said. "What more than that can explain my not being a warlord?"
Lea flinched a little as Ryo declared his virtue. "What? You have got to be kidding! I'm the Ronin Guardian of Righteousness!"
Ryo stopped, his eyes widening. "You're the Guardian the Ancient has been talking about?"
Lea reached back, coming out of a moment of shock and grabbed the hands of the person behind her. She went under the weight as she pulled him over and flung Cale of Darkness in front of her at Ryo.
Lea looked back, up seething as she brandished for the first time red and white sub armor, identical to Ryo's.
"You lair!" Lea yelled. "And to think for a second I was going to trust you!" She barked.
Ryo rushed over to Cale, helping the warlord as he got back up. If Lea had meant all along that her enemy was a warlord like him, then this was not helping appearances.
Cale got up and growled. "You couldn't have kept her distracted a little bit longer?" He demanded, shoving Ryo away from him.
Wildfire looked at him, confused. "I don't understand! She thinks I'm a warlord! The only way that could be happening is if you've done something to her before! You tell me what is going on right now, Cale!"
Lea growled a little. "I don't know what game your trying to play, but I'm not falling for it!" She snapped.
Cale mused for a second before turning to Ryo and motioning him over. "Listen, I'll tell you what is going on." He said. Ryo walked over, slightly aggravated as he approached the Warlord of Darkness. The wind picked up and blew Cale's cape into his line of sight, giving the warlord all the time he needed to reach up and grab Wildfire by the throat.
"These are no games." Cale said as he tightened his choking grip on the Ronin Leader's throat. He looked over to Lea with not a hint of expression in his face as he dragged the young man up and off the ground.
Ryo gasped for air as he fought to release the fingers around his neck. Lea was standing just with in his line of sight, startled as he let out a choking gasp. There was no way he could be playing this came at risk to his own life. She had to realize this!
And what on earth was Cale doing?
"Augh...C...Cale!" Ryo wheezed. "Wh…what…are you…doing?"
Cale looked at Wildfire out of the corner of his eyes. He still hadn't shown any expression yet.
"You will pay for killing our master." He said, both as himself…and as a man possessed…
Ryo's eyes widen in horror as the Warlord of Darkness tighten his grip around his throat.
AN: Chapter three, at long last. This chapter is in fact a combination of Three, Four, and the beginning of Five from the original write up. The addition of Cye, Mia, and Rowen doing all that excess research was never part of the story to begin with. In fact, Mia did little to no research at all accept for a small part towards the end of chapter…8? I'm not sure…but it was really pathetic. This allows for a much faster story arc around the Guardians' origins, so I plan on getting that taken care of now…and adding more battle scenes to the story. This new version now really looks like a proper Ronin Warrior fan fiction. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Keep an eye out over in my Deviant Account. I'll be getting a new image up soon of both Lea, armor, and school uniform.
-Stargazer86