Chapter Twenty-Seven
March 1997
"It's awfully quiet," Darien murmured as he and Rini walked up to the Shinwako mansion. He had come back almost two weeks ago now, and all that time he had checked the Estate regularly to see if any of the others had come back.
Not a one of them had, though Rini hadn't seemed surprised. She had pointed out that if they had come back, someone would have called like they had promised to do. Well, they had received a phone call late last night from Elayne saying everyone was back.
The Prince of Earth had been ill-at-ease while the others were gone, all too aware of the energy. It had been hard to ignore, and hard to keep himself from worrying over how they were doing.
After he had come back from his trip, he had gone over to the Tsukino house and picked up Rini and the cats, and they had staid at his apartment while the others were away. The child from the future had been lucky to miss out on school this time around, though Darien promised she'd be back in it soon enough.
Especially if things were going to settle down after this point…He could only hope that it would.
Rini gave a nod, "Mm, it is. I hope they're okay."
"Yo," a voice calmly greeted, its owner on the porch a small smirk alighting her features. "I'm surprised you all weren't here within ten minutes last night."
"Elayne," Darien greeted, relieved to see her as well. "You went missing, and freaked a lot of people out."
The girl shook her head, "I told them an emergency came up and that my cell got toasted and not to panic while I was gone."
"They panicked anyway. You left in February, it's March," the prince shook his head, and then paused noticing something. Her eyes…They were different, completely violet instead of the three-tone he was used to.
"Nee-san!" Rini gave a joyful shriek upon noticing this and glomped Elayne, "Yay, you're back!"
The girl blinked in surprise, and then sighed through her nose, "Okay, who didn't know I was Universe?"
Rini giggled, especially when Darien's face took on a look of complete bafflement, "How many others beside I, and Diana do you think?"
"Hotaru, Ryo, the tigers," the girl began to list and then paused. "I think Seiji has been suspecting me of it for a while, just waiting for some sort of hard evidence or something."
"Wow, quite a list," Darien remarked having recovered slightly. Once his initial shock was gone, he didn't happen to have a problem with it.
Elayne raised an eyebrow at him, "You're taking it rather well."
"Why shouldn't I? It makes perfect sense that you'd have a bigger role in this than just the one we thought you had," the Earth's Prince lightly shrugged his shoulders. "It's better that it's you anyway, I know and trust you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dare," the girl chuckled and got back to her feet. "And yeah, I know about how much time has passed. There was a distortion, but it took me a bit to fix it, and plus time passed as we teleported out of there and back here. Come on in, but keep it down for now. The others are still recovering; they've managed enough energy to be awake for thirty minutes before passing back out."
"No one has come down to eat?" Rini sounded completely shocked, "Not even Kento-nii-chan, or Serena?" Her eyes widened when Elayne shook her to signify 'no' they hadn't. "Woah!"
Darien looked to Elayne, "That doesn't sound good, Layne. They took a real beating, didn't they?"
"It's been worse before," the girl pointed out. "And, what do you think?" She sighed heavily through her nose and fingered the jewel around her neck, "Yeah, that and then some."
The three of them entered the house, the three cats easily at their heels before the animals decided to go off elsewhere into the house. They were not needed, and did not feel the need to hang around and listen to a discussion they could easily pick up on from another room.
"Black Blaze!" Rini kept her voice low, but the excitement was still there, she threw her arm's around the tiger's neck and hugged him.
Elayne barely stifled a laugh at the priceless look on Kouken-Oh's face, he turned his golden eyes to her, asking for an explanation, but she merely shook her head. It would be easier for her to fill him in about it later.
"Are you going to try and wake them up?" Darien queried tilting his head at her.
The girl gave a wry grin, "I only tried pestering them about it today, but it's still a no go. They will be getting up though, I didn't cook for nothing."
"Oh, you cooked?" Rini's eyes lit up, Elayne very rarely cooked which was a shame because she had certainly learned tips and tricks from the cooks in each group.
Elayne seemed to know what she was thinking, and chuckled, "Ya there's plenty if you're hungry, munchkin."
"Yay!" Rini hopped over to the kitchen to help herself.
The girl shook her head, and gave a thoughtful roll of her shoulders, "Want to help me set the table? My shoulder is killing me."
"No problem," Darien remarked with a grin.
Violet eyes flickered over to the old wall-clock, before back to the table in front of her. She set down the last plate of food, and hoped that it would stay warm.
All the while thinking about how tired she was of climbing up the stairs. She shot Darien a quick thank-you, before commenting to the white tiger, "Let's try this again. Coming White Blaze?"
The tiger gulped down the last bit of his food, having woken up not more than twenty minutes ago. He gave a curt nod, and followed on her heels, as she rushed up the stairs.
Elayne paused outside a door, questioning loudly, "Are you awake in there?"
No response was made to the girl, so she settled for banging on the door and shouting, "Get up! I won't say it again!"
She heard a groan from within, probably coming from Lindsay, and someone else muttered, "Go away."
Elayne threw open the door, "HEY! I MEAN it ladies. Unless, you want me to use my Rowen-tactics…"
Amara rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and said while stifling a yawn, "Okay, we're up."
"Bout time," Elayne grumbled under her breath, letting the door slam behind her.
"Elementals? Kayura! Out of bed, come on!" She resumed her pounding on this door, only to receive more moans and groans.
"Give it a rest Layne," she could hear Callie snap in annoyance.
The girl looked at the magnificent tiger, with a truly pitiful why-me look?
He slightly tilted his head, his expression answering her with, 'Don't look at me, you're the one who signed up for the job.'
She gave a nod, yes, she had, hadn't she? She turned her attention to the door, and shoved it open, "GIRLS! Sometime this year, would be an improvement!"
Kirstin settled for glaring at her friend, instead of throwing a pillow, she found that her body hurt too much.
"We're awake, Elayne," an extremely disgruntled Kayura answered tersely.
The girl rolled her eyes, saying, before letting the door bang close, "That's what you said the last time I was up here."
Elayne smiled slightly to herself, she was actually enjoying making all this noise, obviously her earlier approaches of quietly moving from room-to-room, and scaring the inhabitants awake hadn't worked. This commotion now would certainly deter anyone, and everyone from falling back asleep.
"Scouts!" The girl barked, having reached their door, "Wake-up!"
"Why?" Rei grumbled in irritation.
At this point in time, the girl's patience was extremely short; she opened the door, "Because I said so. Actually, if you keep sleeping, you're going to miss another meal."
"Food?" Serena sat bolt-up right in her bed, eyes rapidly moving about.
Elayne couldn't help but laugh; that was certainly one thing that hadn't changed about the blonde.
White Blaze had moved on to the next door, waiting patiently for her to catch up.
Elayne shook her head at him, to compensate for a 'why-do-I-bother'?
The girl stopped, and then resumed her newfound banging ritual, "Anubis, Sekhmet, Dais, Cale! MOVE IT!"
She had a bit more progress with this door, mainly since it's inhabits threw objects up against the wall, and swore a bit in ancient Japanese for a response.
The girl knew for a fact that they were awake now, "Ya know, I wouldn't have to scream, if you all would get up when you said you would."
White Blaze chuckled in his own way, and then bounded after the girl as she stalked off to his cub's room.
"RONIN WARRIORS!" She practically screeched, making her way over to the door, she pounded on it for about a minute and a half, and then paused.
Not to her surprise, she didn't get a response at all; she gave another shake of her head before opening the door, permitting herself and the tiger to enter.
As she shut it behind her with a soft click, and muttered to the cat, "It'd figure they all would fall back asleep a few times. I doubt anyone remembers the first time I tried to wake them up! And of course, the guys were going to be the hardest ones to try and wake. But this is ridiculous."
White Blaze gave a slight nod, 'You did let them sleep for quite a long time.'
Elayne shrugged signifying she had no clue why everyone was being so difficult, and walked over flopping down on Cye's bed.
She reached out, and grabbed his shoulders, then slightly shook him, "Cye-chan?"
The Ronin of Torrent groaned, and shut his eyes tighter; hoping that whoever it was would go away.
"Wake-up, Cye!" The girl raised her voice a notch, and shook him harder.
A sea-green eye opened and peered at her, while the voice pleaded, "Five more minutes?"
The girl let out a snigger, "Even with the pitiful face? Nope, sorry."
"Aww," He gave a pout, but sat up regardless a slight smile on his face.
The next target was Kento, and she more or less leapt from one bed to the other, "Gege. Come on, rise and shine!"
The Ronin of Hardrock merely grunted, and rolled over, determined to ignore the voice trying to wake him.
"You have to be hungry by now!" The girl protested, only to receive another grunt in response.
Elayne scrunched up her nose in annoyance, and then a thought came to her on how to wake him up.
She stood up, and began to jump up and down on the bed, all the while hollering, "Kento!"
Cye was immediately overcome with laughter at this display; the Water Ronin started to choke on his laughs, when his best friend's eyes shot open, after the Ronin of Strength had suffered a foot to his gut.
"I'm up!" Kento wheezed, rubbing the spot furiously.
The girl somersaulted of his bed, "It's about time!"
The Ronin of Strength growled at her retreating back, as she sauntered over to the Ronin of Halo.
"Get up Sage!" She cheerfully called out, lightly plopping herself on his bed, "Nii-chan?"
She received no response from the Warrior of Light at all; she gently brushed away the lock of hair that rested over his right eye. The girl knew for a fact that he was awake, but he would not acknowledge her unless she tried to do something drastic.
Both Cye and Kento stared at the scene, and then at each other, not quite sure what to make of any of it.
"Hmm," She thought aloud, an evil smirk dancing across her face, "Now then…What did I do with those scissors?"
Immediately his eyes shot open, as he glared up at her, gritting out, "If you dare…"
Elayne burst into laughter, "How nice of you to join the living."
The swordsman sat up, slowly, as he continued to glare at the girl for having disturbed him. Sometimes she could be such a pain!
The look didn't phase her at all, she merely shrugged, and skipped over to Rowen's bed, landing with a hard thud.
"Ro-chan! Time to get up!" She practically shrieked in his ear.
The Ronin of Strata was out like a light, he made no type of response to her queries at all.
"You better get up," the girl warned, prodding him with her finger.
There was still no movement from the basically dead body in front of her, except for the occasional snore.
"Fine, have it your way," She grabbed the empty cup on his nightstand, let a tiny shard of ice drop into it, permitted it to melt, and then dumped it right in his face.
The archer sprang to life within moments, screeching out, "LAYNE!"
In order to avoid his flailing and sputtering form, the girl quickly rolled off the bed, saying happily, "Morning, Ro!"
The other three Ronin were laughing so hard, they were clutching their sides…Rowen meanwhile settled to give her his infamous death-glare. She smiled at him not bothered by his look either; besides, if looks could kill she would've been dead twenty times over by now.
Elayne cautiously approached the last sleeping figure in the room, calling out hesitantly, "Ryo?"
The Ronin of Wildfire let out a groan in response, as he drew the covers tighter around him.
'Oh no he doesn't,' Elayne thought to herself, poking him, and then calmly stating, "You need to wake up Ryo."
"Says you," he retorted in annoyance, pushing her hand away.
She shook her head; "You never learn…" the girl took a deep breath, then called out, "White Blaze!"
Vivid-blue eyes opened immediately, as their owner shot bolt up-right, grabbing the girl, and clamping a hand over her mouth.
However, it was too late…The damage had been done.
White Blaze was a little disappointed, he had been dying to jump on a sleeping Ryo for quite sometime, but this fact did not cause the tiger to stop in his charge.
As he leapt onto the bed, and nearly half of his cub, Elayne managed to slip out of the Wildfire Ronin's grip.
The girl quickly stood, swiping his covers for good measure, and flashed a triumphant smile at him, "I so warned you."
She turned around, and glared at the four human-sized lumps in each bed. Since they had been awoken while their heads were out, each Ronin had retreated to the safety of hiding under their covers. Needless to say, Elayne was not impressed.
"Hey!" Violet eyes narrowed in aggravation, "You four get out of bed."
"No way!" Came the unanimous response to her demand.
The girl held her tongue; luckily, she had been prepared for this exact thing. She merely walked over, and positioned herself in the aisle way.
Then reached out, and swiftly snatched the covers, casting them to the floor.
"Shesh!" Rowen's hands went to his arms, as he tried to rub out the cold.
"It's like an ice-box in here," Kento's teeth started to chatter.
She smirked to herself, and took one more step forward, and grabbed the remaining covers.
"You're not joking," Sage commented with a heavy shudder.
Cye glared at her in contempt, "Why is it so cold in here?"
The girl lightly shrugged, "We're experiencing abnormally low temperatures?" Here a devilish grin crossed her face, "That and I turned the heat off."
Ryo grinned smugly, not affected by the cold at all; being the bearer of Wildfire sometimes had its perks.
"Before you scold me for using such a dirty tactic," She stated over her shoulder on her way out, "If you had gotten up the first four times I tried, it wouldn't have happened."
The girl paused opening the door now, adding as an after thought, "Mild suggestion, for you though? If you don't like the cold…"
She took a pause, turned around and looked at them with a sweet and innocent smile, "Don't go to bed shirtless. Not that I'm complaining, you guys sure are hott!"
Elayne laughed, and closed the door behind her, very much pleased with the effect of her statement. She had no clue that the five Ronin Warriors could turn such interesting shades of pink and red!
The girl snatched an apple from the fruit basket, and walked into the living room, practically slumping onto the sofa in exhaustion.
Rini looked up at her, querying in amusement, "So, are they up now?"
Elayne gave a careless shrug, and bit into the apple, swallowed, and replied, "If not, they're getting zapped. I refuse to walk up those stairs one more time."
The small child giggled, "You're so kind!"
"Munch," She paused and took another bite, "I am too exhausted to be nice."
"You spent much of your time keeping watch, didn't you?" Darien asked not surprised when she gave a nod in affirmation.
Before either could make a comment, she murmured, "I can't help it, it's a very old habit." She then hollered over her shoulder, "Unless you want the full-wrath of this Italian-Japanese girl upon you, I'd highly suggest you all get your lazy bums out of those beds and down here on the double!"
Darien and Rini both burst into quiet laughter unable to help themselves…The situation was just too funny for words.
Ten minutes later, the warriors emerged.
"No need to shout," Dais chuckled lightly, stopping on his way to the dinning room, "We're all awake."
Elayne turned her head, watching as the Senshi sat down at the table and letting out an inward sigh of relief at this.
"Rather," Cale smirked ever so slightly, "Most of us are, I have yet to see the other five Ronin."
"I'll zap you before I zap Sage, just to make you aware of that Cale," the girl smiled sweetly, turning her head to look at the four descending figures of the Ronin Elementals.
A smirk now adorned her face, as she let out a cat-call, causing all four to turn a deep shade of red, and jump in place; she more or less cracked up at that.
Sage cleared his throat, choosing to ignore her reaction, "Good morning Elayne."
"Afternoon Nii-chan," She cheerfully responded, finishing the last bit of her apple, and tossed the core into the waste-basket across from her.
"Haha," Rowen rolled his midnight-blue eyes, "Very funny."
"Who said I was trying to be funny?" Elayne asked, raising a dark-eyebrow at him.
Cye snorted back a laugh, until he caught a look at the wall clock. The bearer of Torrent's jaw nearly hit the floor, "You let us SLEEP till 12:30!"
The girl frowned, and did some counting on her fingers, before slowly responding, "No. I let you sleep for three-and-a-half days…Though I wasn't shooting for the half part…You all just refused to wake up."
The warriors all gaped at the teen, and she smirked, "I don't ever want to hear that I am a bad little sister, that doesn't let her beloved older siblings receive adequate rest."
So, their minds were still addled with sleep like she had expected them to be. But, soon enough the fights would start coming to the forefront of their thoughts, the last one in particular.
Then, things would certainly get really interesting. She just didn't have plans on sticking around too much longer after it clicked, because she needed sleep. She had just wanted to make sure she got the warriors awake and food into their systems.
Otherwise, it would be much harder for them to recover from the fight.
Elayne glared up the stairs, shouting, "Sanada! You do not want me to come back up those stairs."
"Now Elayne," Callie smirked at the girl, "Don't kill the leader of the Ronins."
She arched her eyebrow, "Had I been permitted to kill him when I wanted to? The guys would've been an armor bearer short when they fought Talpa."
"Didn't you say you weren't going back up the stairs?" Rini queried in a quiet tone, briefly looking up from the new drawing she had just started on.
The girl gave a nod, "Yeah." She waited for the Scouts attention to be focused on their food, before adding in a low tone, "I didn't say I wouldn't teleport myself up there, and kick his lazy carcass out of the bed. Be back."
"Oi, Ryo!" Elayne snapped, as she appeared in the room, "Unless you want me to yank you out of the bed, I'd get up."
The Ronin of Wildfire opened an eye to glare at her in challenge, "Try it."
The girl walked up next to him, saying flatly, "My pleasure," She gave a sharp tug on his arm, causing him to fall right out of the bed.
"Ouch," He rubbed at his, now, aching head, and pulled himself into a sitting position on the floor.
The girl crouched down beside him, and ruffled his hair, "Sorry, but I've only been trying to wake the house up for the past three hours."
"Are you serious?" the Ronin looked at her, shock written all over his face.
She chuckled at his expression, but decided not to comment on it, "You can get more rest later, but you need to eat something. Otherwise, you'll never heal and it'll take much longer for your strength to come back."
"Ya I know," Ryo grumbled at her.
She rolled her eyes, "Then, quit complaining," and then teleported out of the room.
Ryo's eyes widened a little, before the sleep cleared, and he shook his head, muttering, "Hell, how could you forget that?"
Elayne had teleported herself to the stairwell, and now calmly walked down it.
She then paused to rest against the banister, biting down a very large yawn. The girl gave a nod of acknowledgement to Ryo, who had finally made it to the dining room. The young man simply gave her a grin and wink before taking his seat at the table.
The girl leaned further against the banister, and simply waited…And then waited some more. Hotaru had already given her an acknowledgement, and Sage kept giving her these odd looks as if trying to decide something.
All of a sudden everyone at the table stopped eating, and they all stared at her.
Elayne gave a snort, checked her watch, "Well that only took you guys fifteen minutes. I'm impressed, your timing's actually gotten worse." She rolled her eyes and shook her head stopping the comments before the came, "Aht! Yes, I would be the ever-so-annoying Sailor Universe. Please hold all questions till I am actually awake enough not to be a total and complete bitch. Thanks."
She then started to walk back up the stairs adding over her shoulder, "And just so you know? It is now March, I have spent the better part of the past three days calling your families, whatever friends left messages, and your employers letting them know you are alive, and the issue should be resolved within the next week-and-a-half."
Hotaru could only laugh at this, and Ryo permitted himself a chuckle and shook his head. The others simply stared for a moment, shook their heads, and went back to eating. To hell with it, they'd worry about it later.
The Ronin of Wildfire sat silently, every now and then directing his gaze to the unconscious girl. She had been out for close to thirty-six hours now, and he was starting to worry since she still showed no signs of waking anytime soon.
Ryo sighed, and leaned back in the chair he had pulled up, true he should've been asleep himself, but for some reason he just couldn't.
He glanced at her alarm clock; the digital numbers reflecting that is was now one-o-clock in the morning.
'Everyone else is still nursing their wounds,' the Ronin thought wearily, 'And, yet, I feel perfectly fine. I just don't understand it…' Here he shifted his gaze to the Jewel of Life, 'Is it really capable of doing that much?'
He fingered the pendant thoughtfully, a sarcastic smile coming to his lips, 'Bet wearing this piece of jewelry makes me look REAL attractive.'
"Actually," Elayne groggily muttered out, opening an eye slightly, "It makes you look like you're having serious gender issues. More so than normal."
The Ronin of Wildfire lightly laughed, "Glad to see you're awake."
She sat up and stretched, her eyes widening upon seeing the time, "You should be asleep!"
"I've slept enough," he was quick to brush her off, "Been sleeping most of the time you have."
The girl studied him curiously, something didn't seem right about this…It came to her immediately there was something on his mind…That had to be it.
"What's wrong?" She queried softly.
Ryo let his eyes drift towards the window, noting the rain that occasional struck against it making soft striking noises.
It took him a few minutes, before he turned back to her, and responded sadly, "You know? I hate this."
For her, it was all too easy to see what was troubling him; the emotions in his face clearly standing out, but she knew better than to say what was on his mind.
She also knew he needed to talk it all out.
"Hate what?" Elayne inquired gently.
The Ronin of Wildfire clenched, and unclenched his fists a few times, trying to put into words what he'd been holding in.
A violent flow of emotions was racing through him, locked away by his usual unwillingness to state what he was feeling…But now, now with everything that had happened in the past few months, he couldn't stay silent any longer.
"I have known for a while, that you were Universe. I just," he let out an anguished sigh. "Part of me still doesn't want to accept it. Doesn't want to accept the fact that the only other family I have left is involved in this mess."
Ryo got to his feet now, his one hand still tightly clenched, "The guys…They've been my brothers for a long time now. Sure, our friendship was rocky at the start, but the more we fought, the closer we became. I can't begin to count the number of times I thought I'd lost one of them, the times I almost did.
Somehow we managed to come out of it in one piece, but there were times when things looked so bleak."
"Mia, and Yuli? Two innocent people, caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Sure, they both got annoying to degrees, but they kept us from getting on each other's last nerve by getting on ours. They pointed out the things in plain site that we missed, just because we were being dumb. At the start the Dynasty was always using those two as bait, then they bored of that game…But, how many times did they get caught that I could have prevented? I was too slow, or too hot-headed to be rational."
Elayne was about to speak, but stopped short, realizing the Ronin leader wasn't quite done yet.
He gave a bitter laugh, it chilled her to the bone, "New York…how can I forget that? The Scouts tried to pry deeper, but we wouldn't let them get that far…Tell them how badly we failed. I had a bad feeling when Sage left for there, but I put it aside. I should have listened to the instincts that never failed me before. What an idiot I was!"
The Ronin of Wildfire was now pacing the room agitatedly; the girl watched him mournfully. Of all the times she wished she could have directly intervened, it had been that one.
She had been there, been in New York at the same time they were…Fully aware that the five were present in the city, but she had been warned about meddling like that. If she did the potential consequences would be worse than the definite ones.
…And it didn't mean she had done nothing, because she had…
Ryo had been silently brooding, and then started up once more, "Sage near died! That fight with his armor left Rowen completely mangled…I don't think Cye did that much damage to me when Dais tricked us into fighting each other."
The Ronin of Wildfire had stopped moving now, the wave of painful emotions within his heart and soul, now fully plagued his features. If the other Ronin had seen this they would have come unglued themselves.
Elayne shook her head, keeping things in was never a good idea; yet, more so in Ryo's case simply because he tended to keep too much hidden for far too long. Her body was still sore and achy, but she pushed it from her mind as she got up and walked over to him.
Ryo looked up, upon feeling her hands on his shoulders; he had let himself get stuck on the memories once more.
"You couldn't have saved Runa; there was nothing to be done. Ryo, it wasn't your fault." It sounded as though she were pleading with him to believe that; her voice soft and full of encouragement at the same time.
Somehow, Ryo wasn't surprised that she knew about that, he finally made direct eye-contact with her, "Everyone I love and care about, either dies, or gets hurt, and it always ties into the fact that I am a Ronin Warrior. I just…" He closed his eyes tightly, before opening them again, "I just didn't want you to fall into that category, too."
Elayne did the only thing she really could do, she hugged him. Laying her head on his shoulder, she said, "You are silly, sometimes. I chose my destiny long before you did, Ryo. I get hurt cause I am a Scout, and to top it off, I just had to be smart enough to place myself in-between you guys and Akemliek. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you're a Ronin Warrior. Heck, I didn't even know you when I made the choice I did."
Ryo managed a chuckle, "That wasn't my point."
She let a smile cross her lips, "I know."
More seriously, she added, "However, you cannot save everyone. Thousands of people die every day Ryo; it's the circle of life, people die, and people are born; you can't change that. Your job is to keep abnormal evil at bay, beings like Talpa and Akemliek that this world just couldn't handle. It's your job to keep them from destroying the place you call home, and those you hold dear."
"And your job?" The Ronin murmured, still holding her.
"Ah, my job is to keep your ninja hide out of trouble," was the cheerful response from the girl.
He chuckled again; he was starting to calm down now, "It's good to hear you say that again, Uni."
Elayne consented to rolling her eyes, "What is it with you and getting your memories back before everybody else? You seem to enjoy making that a habit."
"Ya, well I never listen to anyone but my conscious. And he was right." Ryo shot at her, in defiance.
"For one time, yeah," she laughed, and then smirked though she knew he couldn't see it.
"HEY!"
"What did I say this time?" There was no denying the mischief in her voice, as she continued to antagonize the Ronin leader.
"Layne, it's too early for this," He groaned out.
"Not my fault you are awake still. I could knock you out if you want."
"No thanks," the Wildfire Ronin mumbled, finding she had offered it up far too quickly.
A couple of minutes elapsed where neither said a word; Elayne broke it, though, "Yo, Ryo? You plan to let me go, anytime soon?"
"No," He grumbled in annoyance, and then added after waking up slightly, "Unless you really want me to."
"Look here you; if it's too early for me to pick on you, then it's too early for you to be flirting with me."
"Who said I was flirting?" Ryo whispered into her ear, quickly releasing her, a smirk framing his face.
The girl was not in the least bit impressed, as she flatly told him, "Go ask Sage for better pick-up lines."
"I would, but he'd come up with real smart ones, knowing who I'd use them on." The bearer of Wildfire laughed softly, offering her an innocent grin.
"Why am I being left out of this loop? Everyone keeps saying that I'm 'your girl', 'your type', blah and blah. Wake up! I can't stand you! Boy, no one seems to get, THAT relationship would last REAL long, like five minutes at the most."
Ryo chortled, unable to help himself, "Self-denial."
"I'll give YOU self-denial, Hot Shot! SHOVE OFF!" Elayne had opened her bedroom door some minutes before; she now quickly pushed a laughing Ryo out; slamming the door after doing so.
"Stupid Ronin Warriors and Sailor Scouts!" She spat out angrily, before crawling back under the safety of her covers, burying her head under the pillows.
Black Blaze was on the other side of the bed, and started snickering having caught the entire scene. He couldn't wait to tell White Blaze, what a howl he would get out of it!
His grunts became louder as he began to laugh harder, and then the black struggled to make himself stop, as he was in need of air.
The girl felt around for her extra pillow, once having a secure grip, she aimlessly threw it over her shoulder… It ended up hitting the black tiger right in between his eyes, with a satisfying 'thwack' sound.
A/N: Yes, I know the name she has in the Japanese version is 'Luna'; and I also get the Japanese 'l' sounds like our 'r' and that's why she's called 'Runa'. Either way since this is a RW/SM crossover I didn't want readers getting Runa confused with SM's Luna. And yay for cute moments between Elayne and Ryo, that end with her completely ruining the 'mood' xD