Chapter Ten

Later That Day

The Ronin of Torrent fiddled with the phone for a moment before dialing the number and placing the object to his ear. That was what most of the warriors were doing right now…

Spending time with their families, letting them know that they were going to be busy for a bit, and then informing their bosses and co-workers that they had to take some personal days due to a family emergency.

It wasn't a lie really, it was an emergency, just didn't really fall under 'family' standards. Really, there was no telling how long they'd be gone for.

Or, the thought jumped into Cye's mind before he could stop it, if they would come back from this at all. He would not get time to dwell on this further as someone finally picked up.

"Moshi, moshi? Mouri residence, Ryuusuke speaking."

Cye gave a grin at hearing his brother-in-law's voice, "'Ello, how are things?"

"Cye! Nice to hear from you," Ryuusuke paused a moment to reprimand someone after there was the horrifying crash in the background. "Sorry, you're darling nieces are being terrors. Other than that, all is well here."

Here the Ronin of Torrent could not help but chuckle. The "darling nieces" would happen to be the twins Sayoko had given birth to, and they had just recently turned five. Cute as buttons that was for certain, but more disastrous than a cyclone.

"Ah, at least things are the same as usual there," Cye chuckled out, "How's Mum?" As everyone knew, the woman had always been in ill health. The weak heart she had been born with had simply worsened with each trying life trial. Yet, the last time Cye had seen her, this past December, she had looked radiant, full of health to go with her zest for life.

"The doctors are simply amazed at how well she is doing," he answered. "The family physician said this is the best health she has ever been in, and getting better."

Cye frowned a little; he still had yet to come up with a reason for his mother's improving health. It just seemed odd to him, not that he wasn't thankful, that after all this time she would suddenly show signs of improvement.

"That's splendid," the Water Ronin remarked, letting his thoughts remain private. "Is she managing the store today?"

"No, she's right here, let me get her for you," Ryuusuke said, before placing down the phone. Cye was permitted a snort when he heard the man bellow at his daughters again, after a larger crash had occurred…The children were laughing at whatever they had done.

The bearer of Torrent stretched a little as he patiently waited, and then smiled when his mother picked up the phone with the query, "How is my samurai?"

"Well, thank-you," Cye answered. "Yourself?"

"Oh, I'm sure your brother has already told you," Mrs. Mouri remarked in mirth. "But, I'm feeling better than I have in a long time. An really does know what she is talking about, what she suggested has worked wonders."

"Elayne?" Cye pursed his lips at hearing this.

"Yes," the woman replied. "Earlier last year, when I was hospitalized because of a larger failure, An was a dear heart and looked over the treatments the doctors had me in. She decided, from a professional stand point, that a less rigorous plan might suite me better."

Mrs. Mouri gave a pause, "I guess her being so intuitive is because she's a shaman's granddaughter. Our doctors may value the older ways still, but she seems to actually understand the ways better than they do. In any case, she suggested I start taking some herbs, our doctor had not thought of. I've been following her suggestions for the past six months, and it really has helped."

"That's great Mum," the Ronin of Trust responded, a frown once again on his face. He wondered why Elayne had never bothered to tell him about this? He shook his head a little, he knew better…When it came to other people's health, and helping, she never said a word. She disliked getting credit for things she felt she had to do.

"Now then, what's the matter dear? You don't call any other day than Thursday unless something is wrong," She was always able to tell when something was amiss, even if he didn't break his set pattern of calling.

Cye could only smile, "Far too obvious, aren't I? We found the root of the problem, we think. We're going to follow it to where it may lead us. I just wanted to let you know that I could be gone for a while. No way of knowing when I will be back."

The woman on the other end of the line was silent for several minutes, before she spoke, "Ah, I see. Then good luck to you Shin, darling. Please be careful. You and the others take care of each other."

"Don't worry Mum, we always do," the Torrent Ronin reassured her. "We'll be back as soon as we can. I love you."

"And I you."

Rini was sitting in the living room, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She had been informed that she was going to stay behind, and that it was for her own safety. Diana, Luna, and Artemis would be remaining as well, sent over to the Tsukino family residence for the time being.

The child from the future was not at all pleased with this set-up. She was just as much a part of this as the other warriors were. Yet, she did understand their reasoning that she would be safer out of harms way. That didn't mean she had to like it though.

Diana was aware that her charge was quite unhappy with how things were turning out. However, there really wasn't a need to be so sour about it.

Rini let out a sigh through her nose and leaned back into the couch, as she listened to the other Senshi converse amongst themselves. She perked up when the Sailor Elementals walked back into the house.

Apparently, everyone had made the calls they needed to. All families had been notified of what was going on, bosses had been told a family emergency had come up, and the same thing to co-workers.

"Just got done talking to my folks," Kirstin said with a nod, "So, yeah everyone has been informed.

"Oh really?" Rini had turned around and was peering over the back of the sofa. "Did any of you bother to tell Elayne?"

The entire house went dead silent after hearing that, and Rini let out a low moan.

She then exclaimed in complaint, "Then I wonder why my future is such a mess, ugh! You guys are scary, in addition to being cowards. Guess, I'll go call her."

"Don't worry about it Rin," Lita assured, but the girl merely scowled.

"Cye's taking care of it," Ryo brought in having entered the room, hearing the commotion. "If anybody can pacify her, it's him." Actually, that was a lie Elayne could easily butt heads with Torrent…Ryo had seen that. The only person, he knew of, that was remotely capable of calming her was Kento.

Hotaru watched this all with a belated amusement, there really was no point in calling Elayne. She already knew what was going on, but there was no need for the others to know that…Not yet, anyway.

Cye pinched at the bridge of his nose for a minute. He had the phone in his hand, but was still trying to figure out what to say. For one thing, the Ronin of Torrent knew Elayne was not going to be happy when she heard about what they intended to do. Second of all, he had no idea how she was going to take to hearing one of them after that fight. She had left the house not even two hours after getting into the midst of the confrontation, and had not said a thing to anyone before she left.

Anytime he'd tried to call her within the past two days, she had not picked up and nor had her answering machine. Obviously, she had no real desire to talk to anyone even if she wasn't at home. Finally, Cye decided to stop procrastinating and dialed the number.

"Hello?" a tired voice answered, then added, "You forget something Ro?"

"Did he actually call you?" Cye queried raising an eyebrow.

Elayne let out a light chuckle, "Yeah a while ago, he felt like a heel. He called to apologize, told him I was grateful, we agreed no hard feelings, but he still had to talk to the one he really hurt. What can I do for you Cye?"

"Hey are you okay?" he was alarmed, a frown having crossed his features now, she sounded exhausted.

"Pulled a double-shift," the girl admitted. "I just haven't been able to fall asleep, so I'm sitting here re-arranging the apartment. Speaking of, do you want me to extend the contract? It's coming up for expiration soon."

"Yes, if you don't mind," the Water Ronin answered. "I expect I'll be able to use the place soon enough. Which brings me to the point of my calling."

"Uh oh, let me sit down," Elayne moaned out, apparently falling into a seat just judging by the umphh of a chair cushion.

Cye waited until he was sure she was sitting, "First, I'm a bit relieved to hear that Rowen did call you. I was worried about you."

The girl gave an impatient snort, and her voice became dry, "I'm not the type who's going to kill herself because she willingly got into a tiff with a friend."

"No, but leaving you to stew over your decisions isn't a good idea either," the Ronin calmly stated. "You're not self-destructive per se, but if something were to happen you'd take the beating as your just punishment. I know you."

He could just see her rolling her eyes and weighing the cordless phone in her palm judging how far it'd go if she hurled it at the wall and the awful noise it'd make into his ear.

Luckily, she decided against such course of action, and irritably asked, "What else did you want, Red?"

"Dunno if Ro mentioned it, he probably didn't though. You seem to have a vague idea of what's going on," Cye heard her go 'mhm' so he continued, "We're leaving tomorrow."

He winced when she actually dropped the phone, heard her curse as she scrambled to pick it up, and practically bellowed into his ear, "Are you all out of your MINDS?"

Man, he was so glad she was tired, he'd hate to have heard her reaction if she were wide-awake and completely coherent. He then frowned because she had gone dead silent.

"Elayne? Are you all right?"

She didn't answer his question, merely whispered trying to come to grips with this, "You can't be serious…This has got to be a joke-" She shook herself out of her stupor, and went to demanding. "Cye, if I had realized you guys were this delusional I would've recommended therapy! Do you have any idea of what you are getting yourselves into?"

The Ronin of Torrent had expected her to be distraught over this; of course he hadn't expected her emotions to be all over the place like they were either. But, maybe part of that had to do with the fact she was mentally worn out, and right now he wasn't helping.

"We know it's dangerous," He said in a soothing tone. "Yet, we also realize we're at a stalemate and we need to spring this trap before they come up with something worse. This game of cat and mouse is getting old, and you know we're tired of this Elayne."

"That's it," her tone was full of bewilderment. "You really have lost your minds." She shook her head hard, saying bitterly, "You have no clue what you're doing, none."

"E-" Cye closed his mouth, and turned around when he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. He was slightly surprised to see the Ronin Leader standing there, a grim look on his face.

"Let me talk to her Cye," he murmured out, closing his eyes and exhaling heavily.

The Ronin of Trust nodded, saying into the phone, "It'll be fine, An, we'll be careful. I have to go, but I just wanted to let you know what was going on."

"Thanks," she mumbled. "You better be careful, or we're going to have issues, you and I."

He chuckled at that, "All right, goodbye. Oh, and Ryo wants to talk to you." He quickly handed the phone over to Wildfire's bearer before letting her get a word in edgewise. She didn't even get the time to utter an annoyed exclamation before Ryo was on the line.

"I know," Ryo began in a quiet tone. "We're playing right into their hands, and the others get that too. Since we know, we have a better chance at avoiding the trap."

"Like a snowball's got a chance in Death Valley mid-summer," Elayne retorted.

Ryo could obviously see that his attempts to re-assure her were failing miserably. He paused a moment, checked to make sure no one was around, and then said, "Look, if we get in over our heads, we'll be fine. I know we will make it out of this all right."

"How can you?" she ran a hand through her hair, and let out a strangled sigh.

"Because I believe in everyone here," the Ronin of Wildfire paused for a moment, and then added in a calm tone, "And that includes you."

"Huh?!" the girl lost her hold on the phone again, but caught it before it hit the floor.

Ryo could only chuckle at her reaction, "I don't mince my words either, you know?" He let that settle in before saying, "It'll be okay, Elayne. It might get to a point where it's a close call but we'll pull through. Don't we normally?"

"Yeah, you do," the girl conceded, keeping her other thoughts to herself. "Please be careful, Ryo…I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to you and the guys."

"You'd manage," Wildfire's bearer gently teased. "Stop worrying so much, we'll be careful. See you soon."

"Good luck," Elayne proceeded to hang up the phone; she then got up and put it back on the charger, while hitting the box so that if the phone rang it'd immediately take the person to the answering machine. She didn't think she could handle anymore conversations at this point.

She then walked to her room and flopped onto the bed, drawing her knees up to her chest, and wrapping her arms around them. Elayne had never doubted them before, and nor was she doubting them now. But there was a difference between feeling something foul going to happen, seeing it, and actually knowing for a fact it was going to happen.

Unfortunately, she had full knowledge…Knew exactly how bad it was going to be down there for them, and how very close to losing they would come. They could be killed; all of them…All over again…And where would that leave her?

The Senshi of the Universe had not become involved with the warriors, originally, until it was almost time for them to defeat Thanos. That was when the Scout had first asserted her presence, and then made it a point for them to know it was her. Everything was different now though; things were going to be far worse for them.

And unless something was done, the death Elayne knew would occur could not in anyway be prevented. Thanos would succeed in delivering a crushing blow to the warriors unless someone intervened.

'Don't-'

The girl's eyes flickered slightly, and she let out a loose breath, "It's too late for that, Simoria. I've made up my mind."

'Very well,' there was not another comment from her.

Ryo gently placed the phone back into the cradle, before running a hand through his hair. There, he had told her…He had not directly stated it, but simply implied what had been nagging him for the past few weeks.

By her reaction he knew she had understood his implication, or at least he hoped she got it. He looked up when he felt eyes on him, and threw Sage a wry grin.

"Well, I think she bought it."

The swordsman gave a soft snort to this, and shook his head, "She merely agreed to humor you, Ryo."

"Oh why can't you go burst Rowen's bubble or something?" the Ronin Leader grumbled as he walked past.

Sage chuckled at this, and followed behind him, "That gets old real quick."

Ryo rolled his eyes, he should have never posed such a question to the Halo Ronin; he knew better than that. Upon entering the living room and having almost everyone stare at him, Ryo gave a shrug to the unspoken question.

"She thinks we're out of our minds," he commented, adding, "I didn't have the heart to tell her we always were."

The room was filled with laughter and nods in agreement to the statement, before what awaited them quickly came to the forefront of their minds once more. This path was certainly not going to be easy, but everything else in their lives had been set up before hand…Maybe this one time they could change their own fates…Maybe.

"Come on folks, it's going to be a big day tomorrow," Kirstin announced getting to her feet, "Sleep is in order for all of us. That would be including you late birds."

Cale gave a snort to this rolling his eyes, but he made no retort to it. Probably because Kayura was boring a hole into his skull with her eyes, and looked ready to whap him upside the head with the staff.

There was no need for further discussion as everything that had been planned earlier was already memorized. No other comments were made as they dispersed into their groups, and made their way to the rooms.

However, the Ronin Warriors lagged behind…The five young men waited until the last door was shut before exchanging looks with one another and subsequently nodding.

"We're in for it this time," the archer spoke up, a frown on his face.

Kento waved him off, "It's no big deal, we've dealt with everything else that's come at us. We should pull this off without a-"

"Don't," Ryo cut him off with a low moan, "Because Rowen said the exact same thing to Mia and we got our asses lambasted."

Cye chortled at hearing this from the Wildfire Ronin, but quickly became serious, "Do we really know what's in store for us this time?"

"Do we ever?" Sage brought in with a half snort. "The way I see it, we've been fighting by the seam of our pants since we were fourteen, why change now?"

The other four merely stared at him, and Sage blinked, "What? What did I say?"

"Uh, never mind," Rowen said slowly shaking himself out of a stupor. "Question is though, anyone comfortable about leaving Elayne behind? I'm not."

He shifted uneasily when his friends turned their attention to him, "Look, I was stupid, I admit it. I also know it would've been fine if most of you woulda minded your own business."

The bearer of Strata paused for breath, "She got into the middle, and I shouldn't have forced her into making such a choice, but she did and it's just as well. She's not weak in anyway, I just don't like the thought of the enemy going after her while they have us preoccupied."

"No, you're right," Ryo brought in with a frown. "I'll have Blaze keep an eye on her, seeing as how he adores her anyway. Let's try and get some rest, eh guys?"

"Ya right," the other four snorted in one breath, before shaking their heads in belated amusement and making their way up the stairs. Ryo watched them go, and then turned to look where White Blaze was standing.

"You heard?" the Ronin of Wildfire queried.

The tiger gave a nod in acknowledgement, 'Yes, near every word.'

"Would you mind keeping watch over her, boy?"

'It isn't a problem Rekka-cub,' White Blaze chuckled out, padding over and gently butting into Ryo's leg. 'Just take care of yourself out there.'

"I will," he gave a nod watching as the tiger, pushed open the front door and grabbed the knob with his tail slamming it shut behind him.

Ryo gaped for a minute before recovering and rolling his eyes, "So that's how he does it. Next time he tries to get me to open the door pretending he can't, I'm not buying the act."