dis-claim'er, noun: a denial or disavowal of legal claim: relinquishment of or formal refusal to accept an interest or estate; b: a writing that embodies a legal disclaimer; c: a statement made to save one's own ass.
An Unexpected Reunion
It had been three days since the battle on Mt. Fuji and Rekino was just starting to feel normal. Using the special ability of Lady Wildfire took up a lot of energy. In order to restore it Rekino had to intake a lot of food specifically protein. She had been on a fish and chicken diet for the last forty-eight hours.
Mia had came over the day before to check on the girls and find out what happened during the battle. Hana laughed and said she had been sorely missed, but they had managed. During her visit, Fiona had dropped by, and – being true to her word – delivered Rekino her Sheppard's pie and banana pudding.
"Damn," Lady Wildfire laughed. "I didn't think you were serious. I mean, I was being serious. Hell to the yeah!"
Rekino had to wait to eat the delicacies, though. She let the other's eat the Sheppard's pie, but she had a strict rule on banana pudding: you always wait twenty-four hours after it is made to eat it. That way the wafers inside the pudding were soft and all the flavors had time to set in.
Currently, the ebony haired kunoichi had just sat down with a gigantic bowl of the dessert. It was Sunday. She had no classes, no homework, and no work. She had planned on doing nothing but eating pudding and watching Netflix. When Josephine bound into the room, she felt that her plans were going to go to shit.
"Dude," the Chinese female sat down beside her on the couch, "I'm bored. How about we go out and have some fun?"
Hana came down the stairs at that exact moment, "Go out? Like club go out or hang out go out?"
"Like just go out and chill."
Rekino looked at her bowl of pudding, "We can do that here."
Amaya came around the corner. She was wearing an apron decorated with dolphins and whales. She was drying a plate. "Oooh, I could use some new cookware."
Hana clapped, "I haven't been shopping in forever. I need some new clothes."
"Maybe we can get something to eat while we are out," Josephine suggested.
As the three girls went to get ready, Rekino slumped on the couch. It was three against four. If she didn't go she would feel bad, but banana pudding…
"You coming or not, fearless leader?" Josephine shouted.
Fuck. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go."
She could always have her dessert when she got home.
In the apartment of the warriors of Strata and Halo, Rowen was lounging in the living room texting Invidya. He smiled as he sent her a funny meme of a cat and replied back with a laughing emoji. They had been communicating ever since their late night coffee date. He didn't know if he should call it a date, actually, since they were just talking. He still didn't know if she was actually into him, but the kiss she put on his cheek made him think otherwise. The blue haired warrior let his fingertips run over the spot her lips had been. He smiled.
A knock at the door jostled him out of his musings. Locking his phone, he stood up and answered the door. Kento and Cye stood on the other side. The four warriors lived in the same apartment building, but on different floors. It wasn't odd for them to drop by for a visit.
"What's up, brainiac?" Kento hugged his comrade.
"Just being lazy," he stepped aside to let his friend's in. "I finished my dissertation so I have nothing to do."
Cye laughed, "How many degrees do you have already, Ro?"
"Two bachelor's. I'm working on my first master's degree. My second will be done in two years. I should have my doctorate by twenty-nine if nothing catastrophic happens."
Kento shrugged his shoulders, "That's a lot, man, but I'm proud of ya. You were always the brains of the operation. You and Mia, anyway."
Rowen laughed, "Speaking of Mia, have you talked to Ryo? Last I heard he said he wanted to have an undisturbed weekend with Mia."
"Same here," Cye sat down at the table. "Where is Sage?"
The Strata Warrior pursed his lips, "He's been meditating constantly for the past two days while also trying to contact Kayura. He says it's like there something blocking his efforts."
After the discovery two days ago, the guys had decided that they would be more alert, but Sage was most bothered by it. He wasn't talking to anyone. Truthfully, Rowen hadn't seen him for two days. Only small glimpses when Sage was on the way to the bathroom or to get a small bite to eat before returning to meditation.
"We stopped by to see if you wanted to go into town with us," Cye said.
Rowen raised a finely shaped blue eyebrow, "Town?"
"Yeah, man!" Kento exclaimed. "Go eat, buy stuff, maybe pick up some girls."
He hadn't told anyone of his communications with Invidya. Just in case things between them only remained as friends.
The genius pondered the request for a moment. He shrugged his shoulders, "Sure, why not. I'll go change."
"Where to first?" Hana asked. She was in a dark, green skin tight top with long black pants and black open-toed heels. Her hair was pulled up in a high pony tail the blonde waves still cascading down her back. Her Native American heritage resulted in her hair being extremely thick. Hana, of course, never left the house without makeup on. Her midnight blue eyes were accentuated by a glittery green eye shadow with a perfect winged black eyeliner.
Josephine put her hands in the pockets of her orange jacket. Underneath she had on a black Under Armor shirt and dark colored, boot cuffed blue jeans. Her orange sneakers made her outfit stand out. Since her hair was short, all Josephine did was put some styling gel in it and go.
"There's a new doughnut shop across the street I've been dying to go to."
"I shall accompany you," Amaya said sweetly. Her chestnut brown hair framed her chin. She was wearing a long sleeved, sea blue top with a black skirt that was decorated with ocean waves. She had on a pair of black Mary Jane's with a small heel. Her makeup was simple compared to Hana's.
As the two disappeared across the street, Rekino watched them over the top of her sunglasses. It was August in Shinjuku and rather chilly. She had decided to wear a red pullover with a red shirt underneath. She had chosen a medium colored pair of jeggings and her favorite New Balance shoes. Her long, black hair was braided, the ends almost touching the concrete. A pair of sunglasses adorned her face. She wasn't going to risk running into Ryo or any of his friends. The others called her paranoid; she called herself prepared.
Hana looked at her, "Coffee, bestie?"
"You damn right," she hooked arms with the Halo Guardian. "You're paying. Dragging me away from my banana pudding."
"You'll get over it."
The two Guardians went inside Starbucks. They visited this particular establishment frequently, especially when they had third shift rounds at the hospital. The coffee shop wasn't busy, and the barista greeted them friendly. It was bad when the entire staffed recognized them and was already putting in the order. Hana took out her iPhone, opened up the app, and paid for the beverages using Apple Pay. As the two engaged in friendly conversation, Rekino took out her phone and used what little cash she had to leave a tip.
Leaving the shop, Rekino sipped her coffee, "Never tip on a card. They gotta pay taxes on that shit."
"It was nice of you to do," Hana said.
Lady Wildfire shrugged, "I'm a nice person!"
Two stores down, Amaya and Josephine came out of the doughnut shop with the latter carrying a bag.
"Did you buy the whole store, Jo?" Rekino laughed.
Josephine rolled her eyes, "No, but I sampled some of their stuff. It's bussin'!"
"I would like to go to the home wares store over there," Amaya said softly. She always spoke like almost in a whisper.
As the four walked down the street, someone started shouting. They all ignored it. The city was busy on a Sunday so they didn't think anything of it. However, when the shouting got closer and audible, they all looked across the street.
It was Kento Rei Faun hollering at his cousin. Oddly enough, he was standing in front of the same store that Amaya wanted to visit. Josephine waited until the street was clear and ran across it. In her rush, Josephine dropped her bag on the street. The rest of the Guardians followed her as Rekino reached down to pick up the doughnuts.
Kento enveloped his cousin in a big bear hug, spinning her around as he did so. The two hadn't seen one another since the death of their grandfather a year ago, which hadn't been a happy gathering. He let her go taking a step back.
"Look at you, cuz!" he examined her as he spun her around. "You look great. I can't believe you've gained so much in a year!"
Find a mystical armor will do that to you. Josephine mused. She took her jacket off on her left side, and flexed her arms. "I could take you any day, Ken."
"I'll take you up on that. Just name the place."
The two laughed loudly, embracing again and talking adamantly.
"Whoa, buddy. I leave you alone for five minutes and you're surrounded by girls."
Rekino didn't think it was possible for the Earth to move, but the moment she had laid eyes on the blue haired, blue eyed male she felt like she was falling through the clouds.
"Man, it's not like that," Kento said defensively. "This is my cousin, Josephine, and her friends. This is my friend, Rowen Hashiba."
That was when he appeared. That beautiful blue eyed angel. She knew who he was, but had never met him in person. His tight dark blue top and jeans accentuated his tall frame. Rekino adjusted her sunglasses on her face. She felt hot. Was she blushing? She reached over and took Hana's hand and squeezed it. She heard the Halo warrior laugh.
Ladies," Rowen nodded his head in acknowledgment, "Nice to meet you."
Dear sweet lord, Rekino thought to herself when she heard him speak. His voice was like liquid fire coursing through her.
Another male appeared behind Rowen. He was of average height with shaggy brown hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a stripped blue and white shirt, jeans, and white tennis shoes.
"Uh, hi?" he said shyly.
"This is Cye Mouri. He's a friend of mine, too.
Josephine stammered for a response. "H-hi. Pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand. Rekino noticed the Hardrock Guardian's cheeks turn a slight shade of pink when Cye brought her had up to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
"Whoa, there!" Kento exclaimed. "You can't be putting the moves on my little cousin."
Cye laughed, "It's called being a gentleman. Perhaps you should try it sometime."
Josephine put her hands behind her head, "I guess I should introduce my friends, huh?" She swooped her arm out as if she was a presenter in a T.V. show.
"This is Hana Utano, Amaya Blanchett, and Re—I mean, Candace Askea," the Guardian of Hardrock announced. "Ladies, this is my cousin, Kento Rei Faun and his friends."
The three females all bowed as a greeting. Josephine's eyes widened in realization.
"You saved the food!" She snatched the bag from her friend. "You're a life saver!"
"Is that the new doughnut place across the street?!" the Hardrock Warrior looked at the bag. "Can I have one?"
"Keep your eyes off my damn bag!"
Amaya coughed loudly and sipped her drink. She looked to the left. The three males looked confused.
"Amaya is Catholic," Hana said informatively, "she doesn't like curse words."
"It isn't because I'm Catholic," she said slowly, "it is because I think vulgar words are inappropriate. One can express themselves without the use of that kind of language."
Cye lifted his eyebrows, "And you're French?"
"Yes," she tucked a strand of her brown hair eye behind her ears, "from Paris, actually, but my mother is half Japanese."
"Wait," Rowen looked at the tall blonde. "Are you the Hana my friend, Sage, almost ran over?"
The Halo Guardian rolled her eyes, "You know him?"
"I said he was my friend, so yes. We are roommates."
Hana smiled almost mischievously, "Tell him I hope he hasn't ran over some other poor, helpless girl."
"From what I heard you aren't very 'helpless'," the blue hair genius retorted.
Rekino lifted her coffee to her lips. Her eyes never left Rowen's form. She skimmed over his body at least a dozen times. The image of him shirtless in her mind probably didn't do him justice over the real thing. She was snapped out of her thoughts by someone calling her "name".
"Wha-huh?" That sounded stupid. Good job, idiot.
"They were asking if that was your real hair," Hana made it sound like she was talking to an idiot. "Sorry. She spaces out sometimes."
"Shut up," Rekino grumbled. "Yeah. It's my real hair." She turned around to let everyone see her ankle length black hair that was loosely braided down her back.
"I bet it's a pain to take care of," Rowen said nicely.
"Y-yeah, uh, well that's to say that—sometimes it is."
The mistress of the guardian armor of fire stepped on Hana's foot when she heard the other girl giggle off to the side.
"Hey now! These are Prada!"
"Mmmhmm," Rekino rolled her eyes.
Kento raised his eyebrow at the black haired woman, "Why are you wearing sunglasses? It's cloudy."
Because if you saw my eye color you would know who I am. Rekino couldn't say the words out loud. She adjusted the eye wear so it rested differently on her nose, "I have keratoconus." She had formed some plans months before she left America to be able to tell people why she wore sunglasses. She couldn't say she was heliophobic. So, she did ample amounts of research to be able to be like a normal person.
"Ah," Rowen nodded his head, "light sensitivity. Do you have the other symptoms as well?"
"Um—yeah. I'm nearsighted and I also have astigmatism."
Lies. It was all lies, but she had to make sure she was always prepared. As someone who was a master of disguises, she had to know how to blend into her environment and become like everyone else. Hiding her "hick" accent was tough, but she was learning to keep it under control.
Kento raised an eyebrow, "You look Japanese, but sound weird. Where are you from?"
Cye playfully hit his friend on the arm, "That's rude!"
"No, it's-ah, okay," Rekino had gotten used to it since arriving in the country. "I am, in fact, Japanese, but I was raised in the Southern part of the United States. So, I have a unique accent."
"She's a country bumpkin," Josephine had meant it friendly, but Rekino frowned at her. "You should hear her when she gets upset. Her Japanese is perfect, but it's so funny!" She started to imitate her friend.
Hana cleared her throat to redirect the attention. She could feel the heat coming off her friend, "I was raised in Germany most of my life so I sometimes speak with a German accent."
"You are Japanese?" Cye asked inquisitively.
"Only half," the blonde replied. "My father is part English and Native American. I was born on the army base Baumholder."
Kento patted Josephine on the shoulder, "You have like a mixing pot of friends, cuz."
"They are the best, though."
Rekino finished her coffee in record time. What Josephine didn't know that if looks could kill then she would be dead a kajillion times over.
Rowen pulled his phone out of his pocket after it made a cute little chiming noise. He unlocked the device, his brows furrowing. He typed a quick response before putting it away.
"I hate to cut this short, but that was Sage. He asked if I would bring him something home for dinner."
Hana smirked, "You his husband?"
"Um, no. No offense to anyone of that nature, but I'm most definitely attracted to women and so is he."
That's good to know. The blonde thought, "You tell Sage Date I hope he's learned to drive better and maybe I'll see him around."
Rowen smiled in amusement, "I will do."
"Get my number, cuz," Kento said excitedly. He took Josephine's cell phone, put his number in, and sent a text message to his phone. "That way we can get together some time and I can whoop that ass."
Amaya cleared her throat again. Kento locked eyes with her chocolate colored ones. He blushed and offered an apology.
"You think she looks scary now, you should be around when she has a wooden spoon," Josephine said factually then shuddered at the thought.
Everyone took turns shaking hands. When Rekino grabbed Rowen's hand she noticed how much bigger his hand was than hers. His skin was like touching whipped butter.
"Nice to meet you."
Rowen nodded his head, "Same to you, Candace."
As the groups departed, the blonde Halo warrior leaned down to whisper to Rekino, "Get after it."
The ebony haired color smacked her lips in annoyance, but in her mind Rekino couldn't help but wonder if his lips were as soft as his skin.
Mia watched the sun set over the water at her lake house. While her home already had a big pond, she never got over coming here. This was her and Ryo's "get away" hideout. They would inform everyone not to message them unless it was an emergency and do nothing but spend intimate couple time together. It wasn't just making love – which they had done plenty of – but this was the time for them to relax and not worry about work, school, or even evil forces.
She reached down to pet White Blaze between his ears. The big tiger – who was more like a lap cat – purred in response. Her green eyes locked on her shirtless fiance as he tinkered with her red jeep. She never got over her attraction to him. It didn't matter what he was doing. She loved listening to him talk about the animals he worked with a the zoo. She watched the muscles in his arm flex as he reached down into the front of the car to attach something.
She stood up, wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, and sauntered towards him, "Hey there."
The small clicking sound of the ratchet greeted her followed by his intense blue eyes, "Hey there, yourself." He stepped back and closed the hood.
"I'm assuming your done?"
Ryo wiped his hands on the cloth he held, "You would be right."
They walked back to the cabin hand-in-hand. She already had their bags packed for the return trip home, but she truly didn't want to go. Despite the fact they lived together, the time they spent here was precious and it always seemed to go by quickly. She didn't want to give it up.
Ryo went inside to grab their bags. He emerged minutes later. Mia locked the front door of the cabin. White Blaze had already made his way to the jeep. As they loaded everything up, the brunette sighed loudly.
The fire armor bearer closed the back of the vehicle after his tiger got in. He looked at his woman, "What's wrong, babe?"
"I just don't want to go home," she walked to the passengers side as Ryo opened the door for her. She got in and waited until he got in the driver's side. "I want to stay here forever."
"I know," he leaned over and kissed her cheek, "but our life is just beginning. We'll be married in December. After that, we will have plenty of time to do this."
The guardian of the armor of air smiled at her lover. It ate her up inside at all of the secrets she kept from him. She just wanted to shout: "I'm an armor bearer, too! Oh, and your sister is alive!", but she knew that the time wasn't right. At least, according to Kayura.
"We have a lot to talk about on the way back," he said seriously.
As they pulled away from the cabin, Mia wrapped the blanket tighter around her, "What happened Friday was exactly the reason I told you I want to learn to fight."
Ryo pursed his lips together as White Blaze made a noise from the back, "I told you I would teach you, but I still don't like it. The idea of you getting involved in any battle makes my blood boil. If you got hurt, I would never forgive myself."
"You still haven't told me what happened."
"There isn't much to tell," Ryo put on his turn signal as he entered onto the country road that met with the interstate. "The guys and I got on top of Mt. Fuji. We knew something went down, but still don't know what. There was water on the ground, burn marks on the rocks. There were three bodies of some sort of lizard-like creature. Two of them were dead, but one was barely alive. He said something about female warriors. He died but not before splattering me with green goop and giving a warning."
"Which was?"
"'More are coming. You will all perish.'."
Mia watched the sun disappear into the horizon as Ryo merged onto the interstate. She had gone to see her sisters-in-arms before she and Ryo took their impromptu vacation, but hadn't heard anything from them since Friday. She looked at her phone before realization hit her.
"Oh!" she reached over and took her lover's hand. "Happy birthday!"
"I was beginning to wonder if you forgot," Ryo laughed and leaned over to kiss her. Mia responded quickly.
"You better watch the road before we have an accident."
"At least you don't have to do all the driving anymore."
White Blaze yowled in response. The two occupants laughed at him.
It hadn't been no more than an hour after they got home that Kento called Josephine. She disappeared into her room to talk with him privately. Amaya hummed happily as she unpacked her new crock pot, skillets, and dishes. Hana went upstairs to undress and "do some CIA digging on Sage Date". With everyone busy in their own little world, Rekino went outside to sit on the back porch. She put some wood into the pit before starting a nice, medium sized fire.
She sat on the steps, her amethyst eyes getting lost in the red, crackling flames. Since the battle three days ago, she hadn't even had time to think or process things because of the recovery time. The day hadn't even registered in her mind until they ran into one third of the Ronin Warriors.
Taking out her armor orb, Rekino stared into as righteousness appeared within it. She clinched it tightly in her hands, a tear falling from her right eyes. As she held onto her orb, amethyst eyes popped open staring into the live flame.
"Happy birthday, big brother."
The fire crackled as some wood broke within the pile. She stayed outside until she felt ready for bed.
Next chapter: Informal, Unplanned Meetings