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Chapter Eight: Reunited Lovers

A/N: Hey guys! Time for another update! Speaking of time, I've been watching Time Force and Trip is the cutest thing! (And I've decided Jen is the real leader of the team. Sorry Wes.) Anyways, back to smurai, enjoy!

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on." -Robert Frost

"You really didn't have to walk me to the hotel," Tiara told Jayden and Lauren. "I'm perfectly capable walking across town by myself."

"What if you get attacked?" Jayden asked.

"I'm capable of taking care of myself."

"We know you are," Lauren assured her. "It just makes us nervous when you go out alone."

Tiara sighed. Remember what Ji said, she reminded herself. Their paranoia should go away with time. She was always trying to be supportive of her older siblings' actions. It was hard though, and sometimes nearly impossible. They were actually banned from a movie theatre in town because Jayden and Lauren wouldn't turn their samuraizers off, or let Tiara turn her phone off.

It didn't help the situation if people tended to walk incredibly close to the Shibas; or bump them from behind; or even something as small as being in a crowd could make them nervous. Tiara saw one such group of crowds coming up on their route and rolled her eyes. Great. She grabbed Jayden and Lauren's hands, pulling them along. They in turn, squeezed her hands, scared to lose track of her. Their paranoia is aggregating. But compared to the nightmares, it was nothing...

Tiara was sound asleep when the screaming got to her. She sat up and turned her light on. 'Jayden,' she thought. Her first instinct was that Ji would handle it as usual. But then she remembered that he was away for a week. She got up and wandered quickly to Jayden's room. She opened his door and found him thrashing around in his bed; screaming nonesense sounds.

She approached him cautiously and rubbed his leg. "Jayden. Jayden wake up. Jayden."

Jayden woke up suddenly and looked at her in confusion. "Tiara? What's going on?"

"You were having a nightmare."

"Oh. Sorry for waking you up."

"It's fine. What was it about?"

"I don't-"

"You know Ji said you need to talk about it. That's the only way it will get better."

Jayden sighed. "It was nothing. I just dreamt that the nighlocks came back and kidnapped you."

Tiara shook her head. "They're never coming back."

"I know. That's doesn't stop the dreams though."

"Well I'm fine, and we're all safe."

"I know we are."

They crossed the street and Tiara let go of their hands. They walked into the lobby of the hotel and Tiara approached the front desk. "Hi, I'm looking for Isaiah Sterling."

"Yes, he did say was expecting someone. I can have someone take you right up."

"Prefect. Thank you."

"You're a very charismatic person," Lauren commented.

"What can I say? Growing up in politics teaches you how to talk to people." They were led over to and elevator and stepped inside. Tiara gave Lauren and Jayden a look, reminding them to keep their cool. They nodded a little and stood behind her stiffly until they got out of the elevator. The three were then led down the hall to a room. "Thank you," Tiara smiled.

"You're welcome."

Tiara knocked on the door and a second later it was opened. "Hey."

"Hey sweetie," Isaiah said hugging her. "Hello again, Lauren and Jayden."

"Hi," Lauren greeted. "We were just making sure Tiara got here safely."

"Well, as long as you're here, stay for lunch."

"We couldn't impose," Jayden said.

"No please stay. My guest would love to meet you I'm sure." He let the three of them in and closed the door. Jayden looked around the hotel suite with fascination. It was a very lavish room with a large bed full of plump pillows. Isaiah called something out in Japanese and someone came out from one of the doors that Jayden guessed led to another, smaller room.

Tiara squealed and ran to the boy, throwing her arms around him. "Akito!"

The person in question was Asian with black hair, and light brown highlights. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He was a little on the skinny side, but strong. In fact when Tiara ran to him, he picked her up and spun her around with ease. He set her down and smiled. He said something in Japanese that made Tiara giggle.

Jayden and Lauren gave each other a look. "Tiara never giggles," Jayden whispered.

Lauren nodded in agreement. "This boy must be something special."

Special indeed because a coupe of seconds later, he was kissing her. Jayden looked away awkwardly, crossing his arms. Isaiah noticed this and started laughing. "Tiara sweetie, why don't you introduce your friend?"

Tiara pulled away and nodded. "Right." She took the boy by the hand and led him over to her siblings. "Jayden, Lauren, this is Akito. Akito, these are my birth siblings. My older sister Lauren, and my older brother, Jayden."

Akito smiled and bowed to the two Shibas. On pure reflex they returned the gesture, making him smile. "Nice to meet you both. Ambassador Sterling has told me Tiara was adopted back into your family."

"That would be true," Jayden nodded. He half wished Akito had shaken their hands instead so he could give him a 'don't-get-too-touchy-feely-with-my-little-sister look'.

"I met Akito way back when my dad and I first got to Japan," Tiara explained. "He was actually one of the first friends I made."

"My father was prime minister at the time," Akito supplied. "I grew very close to Tiara given the number of formal events we were forced to attend."

"And we took the same martial arts and kendo classes together," Tiara smiled. She took Akito's hand gently. "I was fourteen when he finally asked me out."

"With the ambassador's permission of course," Akito assured them. "I've always had a lot of respect for him. He's a very wise man."

"Thank you, Akito," Isaiah said. "I've always liked you."

"You didn't need to threaten him?" Jayden asked.

"No, Tiara's more than capable of taking care of herself. Why do you ask?"

"Because Jayden has threatened the life of my boyfriend on several occasions," Lauren explained.

"As one of the few guys in our family, I reserved the right to threaten and question any and all potential boyfriend candidates."

"But we're reserving the right to question and threaten any and all girlfriend candidates, you find," Tiara said.

"Mr. Jayden, I would never do anything to hurt Tiara. Never."

"Don't call me Mr. Jayden. And I know you won't," Jayden replied evenly.

"Well, since we're all getting along so swimmingly," Isaiah said, rubbing his hands together. "How about we have some lunch, yes?"

"Absolutely," Tiara agreed. She and Akito headed for the door. Jayden trailed a little behind with Lauren.

"You're taking this well," Lauren commented.

"Any 'welcome' I give him, will pale in comparison to Ji. Or Antonio. He thinks of Tiara as a younger sister too."

"God Ji will probably show him every sword in the house."

"And how clean and sharp they are. That's what he did when you and Antonio made your relationship public information."

"And believe me, he still has dreams about it."

"How would you know that?" Jayden asked.

"What I do with my boyfriend is not for your ears, little brother."

Jayden rolled his eyes. They exited out on to the street, the tow of them following the love-birds and Isaiah. He glanced around and stopped when he saw someone walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. He turned and took off running, moving parallel with them.

"Jayden!" Lauren called. Her brother disappeared into a crowd of people and she shook her head. She turned away and a few seconds later heard car brakes screech and someone honk their horn. She sighed when she heard someone who sounded suspiciously like Jayden say, "sorry!" Lauren caught up with the group and crossed her arms. "If he gets hit by a car, I'll break his legs."

"Where's Jayden?" Isaiah asked, dropping back to walk next to Lauren.

"No clue, but he looked very happy about something."

"Well, looks like it's you me and the crazy-kids-in-love."

"In love? They've just gotten back together."

"You didn't see them before I sent Tiara back to the states. Inseparable. Always together, always laughing and kissing. I've never seen her so happy. Not even when she's doing her martial arts thing. And she really likes that. I'm not crazy about some boy wooing my little girl, but I'm not naïve enough to ignore what's right in front of my eyes. If you need more proof, she hasn't seen him in four years, and they kissed the first chance they got. I'd say that a pretty strong connection."

"I guess," Lauren said, thinking of her and Antonio when he'd gotten back from his fishing trip. "So his dad's a politician?"

"And a military man."

"What about his mom?"

"She passed away in child birth, but she'd been a scientist. Researching medical stuff I believe."

Lauren nodded. "Nice." Impressive parentage. She was mad at Jayden for abandoning her, but at least Isaiah was an interesting guy to talk to.

-Samurai Ranger Life-

Despite the fact Jayden was almost hit by a car, he kept running towards the girl with the pink highlights. She continued on her way. Jayden ran towards her. "Lorrie!" He tripped on something, but got back to his feet quickly. "Lorrie!"

Lorrie turned around and laughed. "Jayden?"

"Hi."

"Hi." She hugged him tightly. "Wow, it's been a while."

"Yeah. Yeah. So um...how's life?"

"It's ok. I'm in college now. Full scholarship."

"That's amazing. It's great. I'm very proud of you."

"Aw. Thank you."

"So, um...this is getting awkward now."

Lorrie laughed. "Same old Jayden. Glad to see you haven't changed."

Jayden blushed and looked down. Normally his social awkwardness was...well...awkward. But Lorrie had always liked it for reason he couldn't explain. "So...um..."

"Let me give you a hint. This is the part where you ask me out on a date."

"Right. Ok, so would you like to go out with me tonight? We can have some dinner, and...um..."

Lorrie laughed again. "I'd love to." She took a pen out of her pocket and grabbed his hand. She scribbled a number onto his hand. "Call me."

"Ok." Jayden stood there stunned as and walked away. He looked down at his hand, smiling. Just think of how shocked everyone will be when they find out I have a date. He walked away smiling and shaking his head. Wait a minute. When am I supposed to call her? He was so busy musing over that question he forget to look where he was going and was almost hit by another car.