Chapter Eight

And so the days of Hali's depression slipped by. The holidays came and went. With the passing of a year of misery Hali found within herself the strength to pass on the misery that it had brought. At long last she had found people who truly cared. Though she still knew not what they had endured, she found it easier with each passing day to look beyond the past and into the face of the Present. There she found not the condemning eyes of the world that had shunned her and feared her, but the comforting eyes of those who could understand the darkness and longing for hope she held within her aching heart.

With the ringing of a New Year and millennium, Hali found herself at last relaxing and even enjoying herself once again. The warrior within her that had remained ever alert in days gone by was at last slipping back into the darkness from with the Dragon had come in the first place. Passing through the darkness of a snowy winter, she and the former Ronin Warriors watched expectantly as the spring to come began to show its first colors. With the coming spring would begin six new lives. As the winter had been a test of new life and new friendship, so too would be the spring. Unlike the melancholy of the winter, spring would bring with her a new light and joy. Yet, for all of this, Hali could not help but notice the subtle stresses that lay unseen in the shadows of night. With the coming spring brought an unease in their minds that lurked patiently in the mists of the sub-conscious. Silently Hali merely observed the goings on within this house and wondered.

Just as they wondered of her and other things.

With the melting of the snow, the former warriors had decided to resume their endless hours of training. Though none truly ever expected to need them anymore, there was no use in letting such things go to waste. For them it was the normal routine and exercise. For Hali it quickly became an add-on and new lessons to what little she had already known. Though old beyond comprehension, Hali knew relatively little of actual physical combat. Almost all of the combats she had known in lives prior to this had been fought on a magickal level. Though she had been a fighter of considerable strength and speed in the past, her training had been little. Still, she found she could not pass up an opportunity to further her training of the more traditional styles of fighting.

So had begun the silent unease.

The snow had only recently begun to melt. Yet after the months of indoor activities and limited movement, all were more than ready to be outside once more. Weeks of pent-up energy at last exploded within the six of them. With a vengeance, they took to shoveling snow from a considerably large clearing the acre or so of cleared land behind the house. After clearing a patch, they wasted no time in digging in with their training, regardless of the cold or the mud that lay all around beneath their feet.

While the others began their routinely exercises, Hali went inside for a short time to make them all some hot chocolate to take the edge off before beginning. From her vantage point at the kitchen window, she watched curiously as they took out an array of weapons. Though she had known that each of them possessed certain weapons, never had she bothered to ask what each knew or was able to do in combat. Watching now, she could not help but be more than a little amused at their choices of weapons and styles of training.

In the center of a rough circle stood Ryo brandishing a fine set of twin katanas that gleamed in the sun. Swinging them deftly to loosen his long unused muscles, he danced a neat routine that betrayed his fiery passion. Almost directly in front of Ryo stood Rowen. Rowen held within his hands one of the finest bows Hali had ever seen. With a grace and agility that flowed with the breezes of the weather Rowen seemed to glide in perfect rhythm to the sigh of the winds. To Ryo's left stood Sai bearing a yari. With all the fluidity of veteran fighter Sai twirled and slid from one motion to another moving forward and then retreating once more only to return forward again. As if mimicking the lapping waves within his heart, he flowed from one stance to another. To Ryo's right Kento stood firmly planted in his position with what appeared to be a modified bo. Leaving no room for movement, Kento stood his ground reaching far and wide with his bo to encompass a great area moving slowly and deliberately with strength that some thought almost unnatural. From behind Ryo could be heard the singing motions of a gilded no datchi. In all its length and power, it sung gracefully slicing the air so as to leave not so much as a breeze within its wake. And to power such feline grace within the sword came the arm of Sage who's eyes stood shut as though sensing with another power altogether where and when to strike, as though the blade stood as an inseparable part of himself.

Yet as Hali watched these five simply stretching and relaxing into their routines, it was these very things that tickled the back of her mind so disturbingly. Each handled their chosen weapons as more than trainees or toys of interest. There lay no doubt in Hali's mind that each could fight with veteran skill in combat and arise the victor. From their stances to their motions, each moment Hali watched she was further convinced that they had at one point or another done more than just train with these skills. And that wasn't all. There was something more about this that she could not grasp. There remained a certain element to all of this that seemed unnatural to her.

Quickly Hali finished the hot chocolate so that she could join them in the yard. Carefully setting the mugs of steaming liquid on a tray, she moved out onto the porch. Spotting her once more, the five young men gathered around her eagerly. With her usual quiet smile, she passed out the cups to each in turn. Gulping down the hot chocolate to warm their all but frozen bodies, the six of them moved to resume their previous activities. Taking off their cumbersome jackets heavy clothes, they shivered only slightly at the cold's touch as they took to their individual training.

For a time Hali only stood nearby and watched them with their weapons. Yet, it didn't take long for her curiosity to get the better of her. Wanting something to do as well as a little practice of her own, she stepped up to Kento with a bo she had found lying around the basement earlier that morning. Though not as large as Kento's it would easily suffice in her experienced hands.

"Want a little one-on-one?" she asked in her darkly whispering voice as her eyes gleamed a malicious challenge to Kento.

For a moment Kento only stood dumbfounded as he watched her approach him. Dubiously he and the others looked at her as they stopped for a moment.

"Are you sure?" he asked her uncertainly, eyeing her slender form.

At this Hali's grin only widened as she shrugged ever so slightly. "Don't worry. I'll go easy on you."

Five sets of eyebrows rose at this little exchange of words. Yet Kento couldn't help but give her a small grin of his own. This was going to be all too easy, was the sentiment of all involved. Still, none could help wonder where such flippantly brave words had come from. Already she had seen some of what Kento could do, didn't it occur to her that he might not be as easy as she thought?

But before Kento could even think about his first move, Hali made the decision for him. Seeing her eyes twitch ever so fleetingly to his one hand holding the bo down, he quickly raised it narrowly avoiding a vicious crack to the knuckles. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, he wasted no time in returning a shot to the arm on Hali. To Hali's surprise, he not only deflected her swing, but also had already moved to return it. Though it was hard to tell whether this had been reflex or a calculated move, she wondered if it had been the latter of the two.

With Hali's vast array of inhuman powers had come a speed and strength above and beyond that of a normal human. Though her movements toward Kento had been deliberately slowed to a still human rate of speed, they had been only fractionally slower than a professional fighter. Aiming once again with calculated, instantaneous motions, she swung ever so slightly for Kento's leg with slightly faster motions. She had no time to observe his reactions to this for the dance had begun. From one to another they trades moves ranging from the ankles to the head and everything in between. Back and forth the two traded strikes in a visually blurring string of movements. With each strike the other increased speed and strength until Hali could feel her own bo cracking from the stress. Still one could not quite gain the advantage over the other. For Kento had found someone that easily matched him in both skill and strength, while Hali had found one that bore inhuman speed that did not quite match her own. Though she sped up her movements to match his own in an effort to prevent him from gaining the upper hand, she carefully managed not to overcome her speed for fear of revealing too much to the others watching.

Now in a loose circle around the two battling combatants, the other four watched with mixed amusement and awe. The amusement was unavoidable seeing the look of confused strain on their friend's reddening cheeks. But the awe came solely from the undeniable fact that Hali had yet to so much as break a sweat against Kento. She easily deflected each of his strikes while giving some of her own. Unlike Kento who seemed on the edge of the defensive, she was still going offensive with disturbing ease. And still this went unnoticed by all but one.

Unlike his four seemingly distracted friends, Sage observed all of this with an acuteness the bordered on suspicion. Kento, like all the others, still held the powers of their armors within themselves. This would give them speed and strength that was undeniably beyond human. Yet here stood Hali combating Kento with a skill and speed that surpassed even theirs. Somehow he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was in no way displaying the full potential of her fighting ability. But she was in no way a Ronin. She was for all intents and purposes a human with no armor.

Then what was it that gave her such speed and strength? Sage wondered in the back of his mind.

But before he could pursue this thought further, Kento blocked another of Hali's strikes. To the amazement of all, he not only managed to block her, but had also managed to land a hit squarely on her right wrist. Five pairs of eyes widened at the unnaturally loud cracking that resounded from the hit. For the briefest of instances both Hali and Kento hesitated. Kento's widened eyes watched as only the slightest of twitches of pain passed over Hali's face, and nothing more. For in the next instant Hali had not only maintained her grip on the bo, but had brought it up with both hands once again. Still somewhat stunned, Kento barely managed to block a strike aimed directly for his knuckles. A heartbeat later he lay even more stunned on the ground as Hali had not only disarmed him but knocked him flat on his back.

With a wicked grin, she planted the bo in the center of his chest panting only slightly. "Tag," she all but whispered proudly.

But by this point the other four had gathered around with looks of mixed concern. Though she had wielded the bo with both hands effortlessly, there was no missing the pain that had crossed her face or the wickedly darkening bruise that spread from the back of her hand to her arm. Ignoring them, she reached out with her good hand to help Kento to his feet. Still he wore a look of mixed confusion and concern.

"Let me see that," Sage said, snatching her arm into his silky soft hands.

Just as quickly Hali snatched it back as Kento voiced his words for the others. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to hit you so hard. I thought you were going to move it."

With a slight smile, Hali pulled her sleeve up over the reddish-purple splotch saying, "If it wasn't okay, would I have been able to catch you the way I had? How do you know I didn't do it just to catch you off guard?" she asked against their dubious looks.

Yet there was no convincing them. Until they had seen for themselves that her wrist was truly fine, they would not let it go. This she saw both in their eyes and fussing words of concern. Finally Hali relented with a sigh letting Sage see her wrist. Knowing what Sage was about to say, she turned to prevent any guilt on Kento's part.

"Look, it wasn't your fault. I got distracted," she told him, giving a fake blush as she glanced to Sage whose brows furrowed as he tenderly probed her wrist with a feathery touch.

"I'll bet you were distracted," teased Sai with a mischievous grin as he went on in a teasing tone. "But that's okay. It only evened the odds considering Kento's up close and personal distraction," he told her, referring to her tightly fitting dark clothes that accentuated the curves of her body fully.

Blushing profusely, Kento hotly denied this bringing rounds of laughter from all but Sage. Unfortunately, Hali's attempt at distraction hadn't quite worked on the "doctor." Sage had been able to tell just by looking at her wrist that it was broken. What he wanted to know was the extent of the damage. Even as he ever so tenderly felt her wrist, he dared not use his Ronin powers to probe the injury. Without a doubt he knew she would pick up on this. What shocked him is that it didn't take his special powers to realize the severity of the injury. From the barest of touches he could feel the multiple broken bones within her hand and wrist, nor could he miss the unmistakable feeling of old breaks that had healed, but never quite correctly. This was in no way the first time Hali had broken her wrist. Nor was it the first time she had concealed it from doctors. For if she had seen a doctor for it in the past, they would not have healed so crookedly or messily. Worst of all, he wondered how she even managed to use that wrist at all with all the damage that had been done to it in the past.

But that was not for discussion at the moment. Regardless of the past, her wrist was broken now and something had to be done. Catching sight of their friend's scowl and furrowed brows, Ryo turned to his friend as Sage gently let go of Hali's hand.

"What's wrong, Sage?" Ryo asked curiously.

"My wrist is broken," Hali whispered lightly, trying to play it down with a careless tone to her whispery voice.

"What?!" Kento all but shouted, guilt shadowing his eyes.

With a broad smile of comfort, Hali turned to Kento, but was speaking to them all when she said, "It's not that bad. It's not the first time it's been broken and I doubt it'll be the last. It's not that bad. It doesn't even hurt that much."

At these words, Kento was not alone in giving her a more than dubious look. Leveling her gaze at each of them in turn, she began to speak firmly.

"Look, guys, I'm a fast healer and not inexperienced with broken wrists. It's been broken many times in the past. It always heals. There's no point in dragging me off to the hospital for a cast because a cast will do no good. The doctors there will just tell you the same thing they told me the last time. The only way it'll ever heal correctly is a lot of medical work that will leave me with a wrist that is all but useless for the rest of my life. In this case the surgery is more debilitating than the injury."

In her little speech Hali had gone from a firm, unbending voice to one of almost pleading. They seemed on the verge of ganging up on her when she had said her last sentence in a pleading voice that convinced them to stop, at least for a moment. Frowning slightly Sage, Kento, Sai, and Rowen all turned to an indecisive Ryo. Bringing his expressionless gaze to Hali's hypnotically swirling multicolored eyes, he tried his best to read what he could. As expected he got nothing beyond the tugging feeling power and something just short of trance-like calmness that betrayed her earlier display. Finally he Ryo heaved a sigh and gazed at her strongly.

"You're going to be okay?" he asked in a tone that left no room for lies.

"Yes," she replied softly.

"It doesn't hurt that bad?" he asked.

With a look of minor irritation she shook her head.

"You promise to tell us if it gets worse and you'll go easy on it?" he asked her in a tone that almost seemed fatherly in its commandingness and concern.

"Don't worry. I doubt you could miss it if it got any worse," she lied with a mischievous grin in an attempt to lighten the mood, failing miserably in the face of so much concern from the five of them. "Besides, I'm ambidextrous and don't necessarily need to use it," she added hurriedly.

Nodding in something close to satisfaction Ryo agreed to let it go—for now, anyway. But there was no doubt that he would be watching her and her hand closely for the next several days. Smiling gratefully, Hali understood this, but couldn't help but be somewhat annoyed. Unlike days gone by, she now had not one, but five people that were more than just a little concerned about her. For her it was still a new experience having to deal with others in such things she considered her personal business. Yet, she couldn't help but feel warmed inside at something so simple as the fact that they cared. It was a warmth and a comfort she had seldom been allowed in lives long since passed on.

Now thinking of warmth, Hali couldn't help but shiver slightly as the sudden remembrance of the chilly, late-winter air struck her once more. While sparring with Kento her blood had been pumping through her body fast enough to warm her considerably. But in the sudden lack of movement or activity she had cooled instantly. Already her hands and feet had gone numb from the cold as her breath gathered visibly in the air before her.

Seeing her shiver, the five opted for a short period indoors to warm up before resuming their training session. While Hali led the little procession back toward the house, Sage followed slowly, almost reluctantly behind. Though he knew he needed to warm up as much as the others, a part of him just wanted to be alone. Not just alone, but alone with Hali. There was no denying what he had witnessed only minutes ago. Though the others may not have noticed, her unnatural qualities had not slipped by him. Nor would these things leave him alone, either. While they had all noticed such unnatural things about her in the months they had been together, none had really considered their origins or what they meant. But not Sage. Sage had caught ever bit of it. Even as the days had passed bringing him ever closer to this mysteriously dark young woman, so too did they pull him ever farther away from her. Much as he had tried to overlook them in the past, he found it harder and harder to do so as each new thing he saw or noticed made him more and more curious—and concerned.

For many years now the Ronins had grown used to being controlled and living their lives for a destiny they still could not fully understand. Rowen had grasped such a bizarre destiny with tenacity; for it had served as both a release and redemption for a life long lived in pain and regret. For Sai this destiny was one that severely contradicted his trusting, innocent nature. But after witnessing both the evils in the mortal world and the Dynasty, he had jumped for a chance to battle such evil and hatred. To Ryo this unimaginable destiny that bound him so strongly to so much guilt and pain from a life of hurt and loss presented an open door to which he could escape such things in blind rages of fiery vengeance upon those he not entirely mistakenly held responsible for so much misery in the world. In Kento's ordinary life of mediocrity and tediousness this destiny had been a dream come true. Through this destiny he would live the thrilling life of the battle-worn warrior he had always dreamed of being.

But none of these had presented themselves for Sage. In his early days of childhood when he had first discovered his unnatural psychic powers and far advanced wisdom, it had been a curse. Life had dealt him more than just a double curse. In many ways it had cursed him at every turn. Psychic abilities had driven other children away from him in fear. Beauty and money later brought others, especially the infatuated girls of adolescence, flocking to him in their shallow desires and hollow dreams. But even these seemingly minor hardships had not been the end of it. With the psychic powers had come years of endless nightmares that left him sweating and screaming alone in the darkness to question his own sanity. Then had come the Armor of Halo and all its power and responsibility. Sage's lifelong alienation, fear, psychic abilities, forced self-discipline from the rigorous training from his grandfather, shallow admirers, and many other unseen hardships and little miseries had left him unnaturally mature and aged for one so young. A mere ten years of such things even predating the Halo Armor had left in its wake a silently suffering Sage that more than once had defiantly fought and cursed what he knew to be a destiny painted in only further hardship and sorrow. Not only had he fought it defiantly and run from it in the first days of his acquaintance with the Halo Armor and the Ancient, but he had cursed it and all behind it. From Talpa and his Warlords to the Ancient and his Clan, he had long harbored bitter feelings of hurt and anger.

But no longer could he harbor such things so powerfully. Years of psychic training, self-discipline, and countless battles against the evil both within and without had worn him down. Long had this one grown cold to the cares of others beyond his now five friends and those of his family. Long had he resigned himself to the destiny he now knew controlled his life and its course. But resignation had not ended the ever-darkening thoughts that plagued his mind. While much of the time his emotions lay hidden even to himself, he could not so easily hide or shut off the ever-inquisitive mind that forever asked the unanswerable questions of his and the others' destinies.

Since the entrance of this bizarrely, darkly mysterious young woman into their lives Sage had found himself once again questioning the destiny he knew he held no true control over. The dangerously powerful feeling of impending fate that had plagued Sage in the days of the battles against Talpa had faded and all but disappeared into the shadows after the five had moved to America to begin their new life. Even after that fearfully inexplicable feeling they had experienced so many months ago had not brought such thoughts or questions back with so much power or vengeance as Hali had in her short time with them thus far.

"Hey, Sage. Are you just going to stand there and freeze or is the Ice-slash-Flirt King too used to the cold to care?" Rowen queried from the back doorway with a mischievous glint to his endlessly deep, sky blue eyes.

Pulling himself out of his reverie, Sage slowly moved to join his friends as he filed away these thoughts for another time. But he didn't file away these thoughts before the knowledge that this unusual, powerful young woman they knew only as Hachiliah or Hali was beyond a doubt as much a part of their combined destinies as Kayura, Anubis, and the other Warlords had once been.

"Or perhaps would be again," he breathed softly, darkly as he tore his eyes from the snowy scene before him. But not as much as this one, he thought silently to himself as he entered the house now bearing a warming smile that carefully hid all previous thoughts from the others.

Or so he had thought…