Konnichiwa, minna! Glad you came back to read my fanfic! At midnight last night, Avirilli suddenly had the time to pay a visit, so here I am, writing chapter Four. -Sigh- Anyways, here it is!

Oh yeah, I don't own RW, some lucky people do. I wish I did though. I also don't own any other ideas that I might tread on. (I think I steal from some other Anime shows.) But the new characters that aren't in the RW series belong to me! They're mine! MINE MINE MINE! MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE! -Grins somewhat crazily-

One warning. This is really going into AU. I mean, this is the doorway to the entire AU universe that I've thought up. Everything from here on out is going to be slightly skewed. You've been warned. Rather than that, enjoy the story!

And for all of you who have only seen the dubbed version and don't know the character's Japanese names, Byakuen is White Blaze. (I think Byakuen sounds cooler, so I use that instead.)

Enjoy!

( ) Author's Notes

Fur and Field
By Windsong
Chapter Four: Engagement
Written February 2000

Kento yawned and slumped down further in his chair. Geology was cool, but not when Sensei Kasana taught it, and not when it was last period. He shivered—some baka had looked at the calendar instead of the temperature, and the air conditioning was on, making the temperature in the building feel like near zero.

He glanced at the clock. Ten minutes left until he was home free. Man, this is torture! he thought with irritation as he sighed, ruffling the hair of the girl in front of him…

Wait a minute… he thought. I recognize that head…

Kento's jaw dropped as Halicyon calmly raised her hand and answered whatever question Sensei Kasana was asking.

Somehow, the ten boring minutes passed, and the bell rang. Outside, Kento saw Halicyon's back as she walked towards her locker. "Hey! Halicyon! Wait up!" he yelled after her, running to catch up. "I didn't know you were majoring in archaeology, too," he said as they got their stuff in their lockers and walked outside to catch the bus.

Halicyon laughed. "I'm not. I just needed some extra credits, and since this class ties into my major I decided to take it."

"Oh. Then what is your major, then?"

"Botany. Oh, look! There's the bus! Come on!" she said as she ran after it.

Kento followed her, continuing the conversation on the bus. "So, Sensei's a real bore, ne?"

------

For once, they didn't have too homework, and it was a bright, sunny day. "Hey guys, since you don't have much to do, why don't we all go to the park?" suggested Mia.

Ryo's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I can practice for the soccer game tomorrow!" Everybody else sweatdropped.

All of them piled into Mia's car and drove to the park. Hilaris, Halicyon, Byakuen, and Yuli came along too.

Just as they all sat down for a picnic dinner, the sky turned grey with storm clouds. "Hey, why'd it get so dark all of a sudden? It was sunny a minute ago…" said Kento.

Lightning flashed. When the brilliant light faded, a gate to the dynasty's realm towered above them.

"What? I thought we got rid of Talpa for a while!" gasped Sai.

"Well, I guess they didn't learn that we can kick their butts!" Ryo said. "Armor up!"

"No, wait! We can't!" said Sage. "Not if Hilaris and Halicyon are around! If they're spies of the Dynasty..."

"Well, I don't see them," said Rowen, looking around.

"They probably went off to play with Yuli or something," Ryo said impatiently. "Whatever, they're not here! ARMOR OF WILDFIRE! DAO JIN!"

They all called their armors and waited for whatever would come out of those dark and menacing gates. Byakuen snarled softly, his tail twitching from side to side.

------

Hilaris looked up at the darkening sky. This looks like trouble…

Suddenly, the dynasty gate cast his shadow over the group. The Dynasty has arrived here? That fast?!

She looked over at Halicyon, catching her gaze, then glanced over at some nearby bushes. Halicyon nodded almost imperceptibly, and they both slipped away like two shadows.

Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and thunder boomed.

Byakuen roared.

Sai spied a figure standing on top of the gates. Dressed in black subarmor, his cape flowed behind him in the wind, and he held a stave in one hand. "Look!" cried Sai, pointing.

The figure leaped off the gates and landed softly in front of them. The Ronin Warriors shifted into fighting stances.

The man in front of them had long, blond hair, startlingly light-colored against his dark attire. His armor had a charcoal-grey underlayment with jet-black plates over it. (You know how (for example) Ryo's armor has a white underlayment with red plates? Well, the white part is charcoal-grey, and the red part is black.) His velvet cape was the color of blood. His stave was made of iron, topped with a golden orb with a scorpion on it.

His jade-green eyes flicked from one person to the other before settling on Ryo's face. Byakuen growled. "What a welcoming committee. So you are the Ronin Warriors that Master Talpa told me about. Well, let me guarantee you, the pleasure is all mine." He bowed very slightly, straightening again quickly.

"Who are you?" Ryo snarled.

"I am Kionden, Master of Pestilence."

"Master of what?" asked Kento.

Rowen explained quickly, "Pestilence means disease, or sickness, so he's the master of disease."

"Oh."

Sage asked, "What happened to the other warlords?"

Kionden smiled. It was not a nice smile. "Master Talpa decided they were not of use any longer so he…disposed of them."

"What? Talpa just killed them?" Sai gasped.

"No…he didn't kill them…they're in storage, so to speak." Kionden had a demonic gleam in his eye when he finished.

Ryo asked, "So you came to take their place? If you're as stupid as the other Warlords, you don't stand a chance."

Kionden shook his head as he smiled evilly. "I came just to give you a warning, but if you insist on fighting…I don't see why not. Prepare to face one of the Twin Evils!"

Before the Ronin Warriors could react, the Master of Pestilence had leaped into the air and was calling his surekill. "Sickness Lightning Arrow!" He cried, pointing his staff at Ryo.

A lightning bolt streaked down from the sky to connect with his stave. The orb and scorpion glowed before a bolt of blood-red lightning shot out of the staff towards Ryo. Byakuen leaped towards Ryo and pushed him out of the way, taking the force of the hit instead of Ryo. The blast threw him into a tree trunk. "Byakuen!" Ryo and Mia screamed, running towards the tiger.

The tiger looked up at Ryo, and Mia saw that his eyes were clouded. He sneezed. "Byakuen, are you okay?" He asked. The tiger mewed, a sound he only made when he was either hurt or sick. He mewed again before blacking out.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY TIGER!?!?!" Shouted Ryo, whirling to face the smiling warlord.

"I told you, I'm the master of pestilence. If my bolt hits you, you will sicken and eventually die—unless, of course, you can find a cure."

"I'm gonna wipe that smile right off your face!" yelled Ryo, lunging at Kionden. Naturally, he missed.

"Dear me, you're so rude…let me teach you some manners! Sickness Lightning Arrow!" This time, he just pointed at the general group.

"Scatter!" Yelled Kento as they all dove out of the way.

The bolt hit the ground. Like a wave, the grass browned and died; the plants withered, the trees dropped their leaves. The circle of sickness and death spread until it affected a circle 20 yards in diameter.

The Ronin Warriors stood up slowly, amazed. "Wow, look at what he did! He destroyed the plants!" Sai said, looking around.

"I hold the stave of Devastation. I can destroy the life around me." Kionden said, looking pleased with himself.

"Enough! You're going to kill everything!" Rowen yelled. Rowen shot several arrows at him, and was shocked when he dodged them all so easily. "So slow…" said Kionden, shaking his head. "You have to be faster than that if you want to catch me."

Suddenly, Kionden leaped at Rowen and gave him a hard blow over the head with the devastation stave before Rowen could react. Rowen dropped to the ground, unconscious. The master of pestilence then grabbed him and threw him into one of the trees.

"Rowen!" Sage yelled.

He turned to Kionden, his eyes flashing. "SHIN-EEEEE! Thunderbolt Cut!"

Kionden blocked Halo's surekill with his stave. When the bright light of Sage's surekill disappeared, Kionden was still standing there. Other than the fact that he no longer had a cape on, he was fine. "Not just slow, but weak too. No wonder Talpa got rid of the Warlords if they couldn't defeat brats like yourselves."

Then, Kionden sprung at the closest person—Kento. He flipped, landed behind him, and whacked Kento hard on the back. Kento fell to the floor, momentarily stunned, and then was thrown into a tree.

"Two down, three to go…"Kionden grinned.

This time, they all jumped at him. Ryo tried to attack him from the front, distracting him while Sage attacked him from the back. Kionden somehow knew that Sage was sneaking up behind him, and jumped out of the way. Sage barely avoided skewering Ryo. Sai attacked, and when he jumped into the air to avoid the attack Ryo jumped up too, to try and stop him. Kionden grabbed Ryo and threw him into the ground, stunning him, and then attacked with his surekill. Sage got Ryo out of the way, just in time.

"Only two more…" said the master of pestilence, and laughed.

Then Sage tried to grab him from behind as Sai attacked him from the front. He used the butt of his stave to hit Sage hard in the gut, and then he ducked Sai's attack and smashed him hard on the jaw. He then grabbed both of them and threw them into the trees.

The master of pestilence looked at the unconscious Ronins with disdain. "Child's play," he said, dusting his hands. "Now all that's left is to take them back to Lord Talpa."

"Over my dead body!" shouted a stern, female voice.

------

Sage was half-conscious, able to see, hear and think but not move. "Over my dead body!" He heard someone yell. He looked up, and saw two other armored figures, standing on top of the gate. Somehow, he knew that they were friends that he could trust the moment he saw them. One wore purple armor. Her helmet was topped with three long silver feathers (think Pokèmon: A pidgeot's crown, except with only three feathers) that streamed down her back. Her symbol (e.g.: Sage's is the stylized thunderbolt) was something that looked like a Chinese dragon face, except with really long whiskers. By her sides hung two sheaths, which held twin ninja-to. The handles were decorated with purple and silver ribbons that hung from each pommel.

Her companion wore sunny yellow armor. Her helmet had three long, golden, flowering vines that cascaded down her back to about waist level. Her symbol was a stylized flower with four petals. Lashed onto her back was a staff decorated with flowering vines and leaves. The staff was topped with a scimitar and the other end was daggerlike. Both edges gleamed with a cruel sharpness.

Sage would have fallen over if he wasn't on the floor already. Those colors…they're from my dream…

"Who are you?" snarled Kionden.

"I am Fauna, the Storm Falcon, bearer of the Beast Swords." Said the purple-armored one, whipping out her twin ninja-to. Their silver blades gleamed with a cold brilliance.

"And I am Flora, The Darkness Aster, bearer of the Vine Staff." Said the other.

"Well, what do you want? Don't look for a fight, or I'll beat you up as easily as I beat up the other Ronins."

"Oh yeah? Try me!" yelled the Storm Falcon, and she jumped down from the gates with a cry like a bird of prey. My dreams have told me all of this! Sage thought in shock.

Kionden blocked Fauna's onslaught. Then came a fierce and swift battle, a flurry of attack and parry and repulse and counter-attack and dodge and thrust and the sound of sunsteel clashing with iron, so fast that even Sage's trained eye could barely follow. He could tell that these two were masters of the blade/stave.

Kionden leaped into the air, trying to get some breathing room. Fauna jumped up as well, fighting him in the air until he was forced back onto the ground. Exasperated, the master of Pestilence leaped up and shouted his surekill. Instead of leaping out of the way, she brought her beast swords in front of her to block. When the dark lightning disappeared, Fauna gave a small, hiccuping cough. "That's it?" she asked scornfully. Then she screamed something in a language that Sage couldn't understand, and leaped at Kionden again, sword points glittering with a light of their own.

While Kionden was busy fighting off Fauna, the other one unfastened her staff and leaped down, landing behind Kionden, and swept his feet out from under him. Kionden fell and rolled, barely avoiding the sharp, dagger-like end of Flora's staff. Kionden jumped to his feet—to find that Flora's scimitar-like blade was at his throat. "Fauna, go!" She yelled as she held Kionden motionless.

Fauna twirled her ninja-to around her before crossing them in front of her body. "Beast Rage Scream!" She yelled. The silver blades glowed before they shot out a blast of energy, aimed straight at Kionden. Flora jumped away.

Kionden saw in his mind's eye what seemed like all the animals in the world attacking him, all of them roaring their anger. He stood, frozen with horror and fear.

The blond-haired Warlord was thrown off his feet with the force of the blast and thrown several feet away. When he recovered from the shock and tried to get up, he found a blade aimed at his heart and two blades crossed in front of his throat.

"Go," said the yellow-armored woman icily in a quiet voice that somehow carried to the edges of the battlefield. "Tell your Lord Talpa to beware, for we are guarding this world now." The master of Pestilence nodded mutely and teleported away.

Fauna looked at Mia. "Quickly! Take the tiger to the veterinarian with all haste, before his disease progresses." Fauna and Flora helped Mia to pick up the tiger and place it into the back of Mia's Jeep. A few minutes after Mia drove off, they looked at the Ronin Warriors. "It was lucky that none of them were hit with the blast." The Darkness Aster said. "Are you going to be okay? Kionden hit you pretty hard with his surekill."

"I'll be fine, you shouldn't worry so much. Look at the damage that idiot did to the land!" exclaimed The Storm Falcon, looking around. "Can you heal it, Flora?"

"Let's see…" said the yellow-armored woman, and she bent down to examine the grass. She looked up at her comrade, and nodded. She stuck the dagger end of her staff into the ground and closed her eyes. The silence within the clearing was tense with anticipation.

Soon, green/gold waves began radiating out of her staff. The grass turned green again, the plants stood upright and healthy, the trees grew new leaves. Soon it was as if Kionden had never touched the clearing.

The two looked around and bowed to the fallen figures of the Ronins before jumping away as the first drops of rain began to fall.

Yay! I finally got to the fighting! -grins- Well, that's chapter four, Minna! Whaddaya think?

Chapter Five will probably be up soon, especially if Avirilli posseses me again…the Oni…

Windsong - windsong 137 at gmail dot com

"Bow, underlings, before Zappy, LORD OF THE HAMSTERDAM UNDERWORLD!" -Me feeling eccentric, concerning my friend's hamster