Konnichiwa, minna! Welcome to the last chapter of Fur and Field! -bows- yes, after SEVERAL months of toil, writer's block, arguments with Avi, and overall hard work, it is finally complete!

Avirilli: no it isn't! You haven't even started writing it yet!
Windsong: okay, so you're right.
Avirilli: -beams-
Windsong: DON'T say it!
Avirilli: Disclaimers, my dear!
Windsong: -sighs- Don't own Ronin Warriors or any of its beloved characters...I DO, however, own Hilaris, Halicyon, Kionden, Inokian, Serusin, Acitis, and anything else that I threw in this fic that wasn't in the original storyline. -realization hits her- Hey, Avi, since when do you start calling me "dear"?
Avirilli: um...did I say that?
Windsong: yes you did!
Avirilli: oh...write the story!
Windsong: -Glares- at Avirilli growl fine...

Enjoy!

Fur and Field
By Windsong
Epilogue
Written May 2000

It had been several months since Talpa had been defeated, and autumn was coming quickly. The boys were going to start their second year of college in a few weeks, but before that they were fully enjoying their time off.

Kento and Ryo were busy playing one of Yuli's racing games on Playstation. "Haha! I'm ahead of you!"

"Not for long!" Ryo exclaimed gleefully as he took a shortcut and shot ahead of Kento.

"NOT FAIR!"

"Not my fault that you didn't know about it!"

"You play this game too much..."

Yuli came running in, saw that the two were playing his Playstation, and pouted. "Hey! That's MY Playstation! I want to play!"

Neither boy bothered looking at Yuli. "Didn't Mia ever teach you to share?"

"Fine, but I play next!"

"Yeah...whatever..." Kento bumped Ryo's car out of the way, flipping it over in the process.

"KENTO!"

"Not my fault that you were in the way!"

"Grrrrr..."

Suddenly, Yuli got impatient and tried to snatch Ryo's game controller. "YULI!"

"I WANNA PLAY!"

"WAIT YOUR TURN!"

While Ryo and Kento were playing/arguing with each other/convincing Yuli to STOP grabbing the controls out of their hands, Mia was busy watching TV with Sai, Sage was teaching Halicyon how to meditate, Hilaris was on one of the balconies of Mia's house, and Rowen was...well...

As Hilaris looked out at the sunset, Rowen snuck up on her. "BOO!"

"AAAH!" She jumped and whirled before she realized who it was. "Why you little—" She tackled him and started tickling him.

"ACK! Okay, okay, you win! GET OFF!" With a final poke, she got up and pulled him onto his feet.

"Don't scare me like that!" Hilaris scolded.

"Don't tickle me like that, either!"

"You started it!"

"..."

Rowen leaned on the railing next to Hilaris, who was looking out over the forest. "Do you know when dinner's going to be served?" she asked.

He snorted, amused. "Not for a while. Sai's in laughing fits over some BBC show. We should have never gotten cable..."

Hilaris laughed. "There are some pretty good cable shows. Maybe we should just cancel BBC."

"And risk Sai 1, trying to kill us, 2, never cooking for us again, or maybe even both? No thank you!"

"If he stopped cooking, Kento would whine so much that he would have to cook or risk going deaf."

"Unless he just moves out."

"We'd tape him to the floor first."

"Or Kento would sit on him."

"Or Halicyon would glomp him."

"Maybe all three."

A warm wind brushed by them. Hilaris smiled, and went back to watching the stars peep out, one by one. "Where's Pegasus, again?"

"That one, over there," Rowen said, pointing to the place the constellation would be in a few moments. "And that one over there's Perseus, who killed the Gorgon Medusa. I can't believe that none of these constellations are in Serusin's sky."

"Nope, nary a one. But ours are just as beautiful."

"I wish I could go to Serusin with you. Do you really have to go soon?"

"Yes," Hilaris sighed. "Once Inokian and Kionden sent word that they had healed it, it's been tugging at me, calling me back. You don't know how homesick Halicyon and I have been ever since we left Serusin. It's a lot like here...except that we don't have many big cities, and not many continents, just two and a couple of archipelagos. And we don't have so many languages—everyone speaks Serusinian, and people who visit from other worlds use translating machines. But overall, it's mainly farmlands or forests—people own land, and not a lot of people live in apartments. Also," Hilaris grinned, "We have to put the World Gates back up! Since we destroyed them, no one can go through them, and that's really hurting the economy."

"Sounds picturesque."

"It nearly is. Hey, Ro-chan, why don't you come with me and Halicyon to Serusin?"

"I'd love to, but..."

"I know. It isn't your world, right?"

"Yeah. Earth—Tokyo, to be exact—is the only place I've known my entire life. I've never gone travelling, you know that? Not even to England, though Sai asked me once. Going to another world—I don't think I could stand it."

"You've been to Acitis," Hilaris pointed out.

"That doesn't count, we were kidnapped there."

Hilaris sighed. "You wouldn't consider it? Not even to visit?"

"I already have. No, I can't. So when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"Aah, so soon?"

"I don't think Hali and I could stand it a moment longer."

Rowen sighed. "Well, don't you dare leave until you say goodbye."

"Aw, miss us already?" Hilaris poked him.

"Stop that!"

"Why?"

"It's annoying!"

"So?"

"Arg..."

There was silence for a while. "So, what's that one?" She pointed towards another group of stars.

"Andromeda. She was tied to a rock as a sacrifice to Posiedon when Perseus saved her."

Hilaris glanced down, and saw two figures walking towards the house. "Look! Sage and Halicyon are coming back! I guess they had enough meditation."

"Let's go in, then. It's getting kinda chilly."

"Yeah." The duo vanished inside.

------

Morning came, and Hilaris and Halicyon prepared to leave. "Hey, Hilaris! Will you hurry up?! I want to GO!" Halicyon bellowed from the back of her horse—they had gotten to the world gate via horseback, and they were returning the same way.

"So eager to leave?" Sai asked, looking up to Halicyon.

"Sorry, kiddo, but I really want to see my family again. It's been about a year."

"Kiddo?"

"Kiddo. Is there a problem?"

"I haven't heard that word in ages is all."

Hilaris came out. "Jeez, so impatient." Halicyon glared at her. Hilaris smirked back.

As Hilaris mounted up, Halicyon's horse started walking. Rowen asked, "When are you going to pay a visit?"

"Don't worry," She called over her shoulder as she urged her horse into a walk. "By the time of the first autumn storm next year, I'll be back to tickle you again."

"Bring yourself back, but leave the tickling behind, please."

"Sayonara!" Hilaris and Halicyon called.

"Sayonara!" The group called back, waving frantically.

The two went into a gallop, and quickly dissapeared from sight.

"You think they'll keep their promise?" Sai asked.

"Have they ever broken their promises?" Sage replied calmly.

"No..."

"Sai, when's lunch?" Kento whined.

Sai sighed. "Soon, you big ox."

The Ronin Warriors turned and went inside.

Yay! I'm done! -dances- I might write a sequel, I'm not sure. To write a sequel, you have to get ideas first...-glares at Avi- Ah, I'll think of something. Well, this is Windsong, signing off...for now! -laughs sadistically as Avi hides in a corner-

Ja ne!!! -waves-

Windsong - windsong137 at gmail dot com

"This world is not conclusion." -Emily Dickinson

back