Chapter Four

Less than fifteen minutes later, any conversation that might have been going on in the kitchen ceased as Hali silently appeared in the doorway. All eyes turned to her as she gave them a weak smile.

"They fit, I see," Rowen commented noticing her clothes.

"Yeah, I thought you two might be pretty close in size," Sai told him quickly.

"Thanks," Hali all but whispered as the guys moved to give her a seat at the table while Sai got her a cup of coffee.

After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, Ryo finally spoke up. "How did you end up in the river?" he asked gently.

"I don't want to talk about it," she replied coolly.

"Where do you live?" Sage asked.

Deciding on the best way to handle this, Hali met their eyes. "Look, I'll make this simple. I'm nineteen and homeless. My parents think I'm dead and anyone else that gave a care is dead. I've been on the streets for the better part of six years so it's nothing new to me. And I have no intention of letting my parents know that I'm alive."

For almost a full minute the five Ronins could only stare in shock at both the bluntness and the content of her words. Finally Hali broke the silence as she pushed her chair back and stood.

"I'm grateful for your help, but you did me no favor," she told them. "I'm sorry for having disrupted you and caused concern."

"Wait," Sage said, grabbing her arm as he stood. "Just sit down. You don't have to leave."

Glaring coolly into Sage's one visible eye, Hali stood silent.

"We didn't ask you to leave. In fact, if you want, you can stay and live with us."

Now it was Hali's turn to stare in shock. As she turned from one to the other, she saw only sincerity in their eyes.

"You're kidding, right? You rescue me from the river and then invite me to live with you just like that?" she said dumbfounded as they all nodded. "Don't you realize that that could get you killed? How do you know I'm not here to kill you in your sleep?"

Only Sage answered her by saying, "If you were, we'd probably be dead already. Besides, I think we can take care of ourselves."

Looking somewhat abashed, Hali lowered her eyes. "You really mean it?"

"Of course we do," Sai told her sensing her unexpected, yet hidden sadness as well as gratitude.

Hali met each of their eyes to find that the invitation was more than sincere, but welcomed. Finally she nodded. "I'll try it, I guess."

All five of the Ronins broke into smiles as she moved to sit with them once more. Facing them once more in uncomfortable silence, she listened as they made plans for her to have a bedroom to herself. As she listened, she couldn't help but notice how different these five were. Not just different from one another, but different from anybody she had ever known. Aside from them being from halfway around the world, she could sense something very powerful about each of them. There lay so much power in these five that she found it almost hard to believe they were so human. Yet, for all this power, all she saw before her were five absolutely normal young men.

Maybe that's why they accept me so easily, she thought. Maybe it's because I'm as different as they are.

But, even as she thought of it, she knew that even here she couldn't be normal. Even as different as these five were, they could never understand what she was or just how different she was. It would never be the same.

"What do you think?" Sage asked Hali.

"I'm sorry," Hali said with a sigh. "I was lost in thought."

Gently Sage put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked.

"I told you I'm fine," she said, giving him a fake, but reassuring smile. "So what was the question?"

"We were wondering if you wanted the room with the bathroom," Ryo asked.

"Yeah, and leave the four of us to fight over the bathroom while Sage spends four hours fixing his hair," Kento commented.

"Hey!" Sage said while the other four chuckled and Hali tried to conceal a grin.

"No worse than you leaving the rest of us starving to death every day with you're midnight snacks, Kento," Sai said.

"That's not even fair," Kento said with a scowl as the others giggled once more.

"Whatever you guys think is best," she told them after they had settled down somewhat. "I would be just as happy on the sofa."

"There's an idea," Rowen commented sarcastically.

"As if," Ryo tossed. "What do you think we are? Heathens?"

"Not according to definition," she said. "But the way I see it, five men in one house with no woman….That leaves a lot to imagination."

For just a second the five looked to one another before breaking into laughter.

Brushing away tears, Sai said, "You've got a point with that one."

"And if you're really good, we might even let you marry one of us," Kento tossed, bringing more laughter.

"Dream on, lover boy," she tossed.

"Well, it's getting late," Sai said as he stood from the table. "While you guys go work on getting a room together, I'll start cooking dinner."

"Alright!" Kento said at the thought of food while the others groaned at the thought of work.

"Want some help?" Hali volunteered to Sai.

"Sure, leave them to paw through my stuff while you hide out in the kitchen with Sai," Sage teased sulkily.

"Come off it, Sage. You're just jealous because she doesn't hang all over you saying, 'My hero,'" Rowen tossed doing a comical damsel's impression while the others burst into laughter.

Sage only crossed his arms and glared at Rowen in the doorway while Sai blushed furiously knowing what would come next. Playing right along with it, Hali winked at Sai and stood up. She took his arm flirtatiously and led him toward the stove.

"So, what kind of stuff do you like to cook?" she asked as though fawning all over him.

Still blushing furiously, Sai said, "I was thinking of a keesh lorraign for dinner tonight."

Dumbfounded the others just stared for several seconds before shrugging their shoulders and leaving the two to their cooking.