Chapter Three

It was several hours later and well into the afternoon before Sage finally awoke. At that point Ryo was watching over him while Sai was watching over the girl. With all that had happened during the night, none could find the will to return to sleep. Rotating every so often, the four Ronins had taken turns watching over the girl and their exhausted friend. Seeing Sage stirring somewhat, Ryo moved over to his friend's bedside. Ever so slowly, Sage pulled himself back to consciousness. Looking around, his eyes carefully focused on his friend's concerned face.

"Ryo?" Sage groaned.

"Hey, Sage. How are you feeling?"

Instead of answering, Sage shook his head to clear away the cobwebs and pulled himself to a sitting position. For a moment he just rested his head against the wall behind him trying to recall what had happened. As the memories came floating back, he snapped his head back up.

"The girl," he said, vaguely as his mind returned to those intense minutes.

"She's still out of it. She hasn't woken yet, but it looks like she'll be okay," Ryo said as his friend turned to him questioningly.

"You mean I managed to bring her back?" Sage said, somewhat startled.

"Yeah. Why?"

Sage's brows furrowed in thought for a moment as the darkness of those minutes floated back to his mind. Though he hadn't seen anything concrete, what he had sensed in those moments was beyond shocking. The raw power she held and the agelessness of her spirit were awing. But that wasn't all. There was so much more to her than he could have imagined. He almost found it hard to believe she was actually human.

Making up his mind, Sage swung his legs over the side of the bed. Still somewhat weak from the previous night's activities, he wobbled slightly as he rose to his feet. Seeing this, Ryo moved to help his friend.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea? You used a lot of power last night, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Sage told him sarcastically.

Still, Sage felt he had to go see her. Moving a little more slowly than usual, he went to get his robe.

In the room right beside Sage's, Sai yawned widely as he sat in a chair next to the girl's bed. Already she had begun moving in her sleep. Twice she had begun to mumble the same words. Even as Sai stretched, he could hear her saying it once more, this time even more loudly than before.

"Please, just let it be over….."

Looking upon her once more, Sai noticed the blanket had slid down somewhat from her shoulders. Reaching forward, he carefully moved to pull them back up. At that instant he was startled to see her eyes fly open. Giving a violent start she jumped back with a slight cry. Sai did the same, moving back from the bed.

In the next room Ryo and Sage heard this and came running. They reached the door just in time to see the girl fly off the bed in a blur of motion to land on her feet on the other side by the window. Never taking her eyes off them, she backed up toward the window just as Rowen and Kento came in behind their friends.

"Hey, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you," Ryo said trying to calm her from where he stood, not wanting to scare her into jumping out the window.

For just a second she stared at each of them before her shoulders slumped and she relaxed against the wall.

"Why can't it just be over? Why does it always have to be like this?" she asked softly to no one.

Not understanding what she meant, the others just looked to one another. But there was no missing the misery or the loneliness that filled her voice.

"Are you okay?" Sage finally asked, moving forward hesitantly a couple of steps.

"I'm alive aren't I?" she replied softly, looking up to face him.

Until that moment they had all been too distracted to notice her eyes. But as Sage's eyes met hers he found himself all but hypnotized by their power and color. Seeing his reaction, her face hardened as she averted her eyes. Feeling somewhat guilty, Sage blushed.

"I know," she all but whispered. "Freakish aren't they?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare. Um, my name is Sage. These are my friends Ryo, Rowen, Sai, and Kento. We found you lying by the river last night. You almost died," Sage said very seriously.

"Yeah, what happened out there?" Ryo asked curiously.

"You don't want to know," she told him surprising them all.

"Is there anyone you would like us to call?" Rowen asked being the first to recover from the startling answer she had given.

Laughing mirthlessly she replied, "Anyone who cares, if you can find anyone." Seeing their surprise and hurt, she added, "No. There isn't anyone to call. My name is Hachiliah. Most people just call me….Hali."

Having almost said the name Draconis that only her closest of friends had once called her brought back painful memories. But there were others here. Masking those thoughts and feelings behind another wall of ice, Hachiliah faced them coolly.

Slowly the others nodded wondering what it was that had changed her mood so suddenly. But only Sai could see beyond the icy mask to know the pain she now held back.

"Why don't you guys go downstairs while I find Hali some clothes," Sai told them.

Suddenly realizing that Hali was still wearing her wet clothes, they quickly nodded and turned to leave. Unwilling to change her the night before, they had simply left her in them after Ryo had used his powers to warm her body somewhat. Sai carefully closed the door as Hali eyed him coolly. Finally Sai turned around eyeing her the same way before stepping forward.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

For several seconds she only looked at him, debating on what she could say to this one. It was obvious she wasn't hiding much in the way of emotions from this one.

"You're very perceptive," she said, still not giving in to the emotions that threatened just below the surface.

Blushing slightly Sai said, "It's not very hard to miss."

"One of those, huh?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Sort of," Sai told her vaguely. "It's just that I sense so much pain in you. You look like you've been through a lot."

"You have no idea," she whispered, staring distantly out the window.

Gently Sai laid a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Slowly Hali brought her eyes up to meet his. Knowing she couldn't hide it from this one, she let it all show through her eyes. Though her eyes were unlike anything he had ever seen, there was no mistaking the raw pain and sadness he could see within them. For a moment it was almost too much to bear. Still, she shed not one tear.

"No, I'll be fine," she said softly. "I just need to be alone for a few minutes."

Unable to say anything and utterly shocked by the inner strength she held, he only nodded. Turning away from her, he pulled a set of clothes out of the closet. Though they belonged to Rowen, he believed they would be close enough to fit. Height-wise they were a close match, but she weighed far less. Still, he hoped they would fit. As Hali watched, she was mildly amused to see that the clothes were black.

"Well, these are Rowen's but I think they should fit," Sai told her as he set them on the bed beside her.

"Lifting up the black sweatshirt, she was glad to see that it had long sleeves. Nodding satisfactorily, she turned back to Sai. "I'll be down in a few minutes. I'm sure you guys are wanting to give me the third degree."

Blushing slightly Sai nodded. "Probably. Take you're time," he told her meaningfully.

Slowly she returned the nod as Sai opened the door to leave. Just as he was about to close the door, she stopped him.

"Sai, thank you."

"For what?" he asked confused.

"For caring," she told him. "It's not very often I come across people that care about others the way you do. You have a good heart."

Blushing once again even deeper, Sai nodded shyly. "It was nothing."

Seeing she wasn't going to say anything further, Sai let it go at that and went to join his friends downstairs in the kitchen.