OMG! I've updated! I'm not dead! lol. Here's another one from me to you! :D Still don't own anything. Wait! Yes I do! Ameena is mine! Hahaha! I own something! Okay, on with the story now. Well... Stop reading this and read the story. Off you go. Bye. See you later. You go now! *poof*

Edited and re-posted 2/10/2012


~~~Chapter 6

"We're almost there, right?" Kento questioned, leaning forward in his seat. He sounded worried, his face had grown pale and his eyes wider than any of them had ever seen them. He kept his eyes out the window, refusing to look at the others in the car.

"Yeah, Kento," Cye replied, eyes still closed as he rested. "Why? What's up? Hungry again?" he joked, trying to lighten the mood in the car. Kento's reply would completely ruin any chance of that.

"No. I think Ryo's hit his limit," Kento answered seriously while pointing out the window. Sage's eyes flew open and focused on the dark haired warrior out in the rain. Ryo was practically laying on White Blaze now, his eyes closed. He'd quit moving and looked dangerously close to falling off.

"Shit. Just hang on a few more minutes, Ryo," Rowen said, subconsciously pressing the gas pedal a little harder than before.

Ryo opened his eyes to the barest of slits when he finally realized White Blaze was trying to get his attention. "What is it boy?" Ryo asked, hand barely moving to scratch his tiger's ears. After another soft growl, he slowly lifted his head, barely making out Mia's house ahead of them through the falling rain. "We're here," he mumbled softly, then closed his eyes once more. He'd never felt so tired in his entire life and never as cold as he felt now. He wanted nothing more than to sleep for all eternity, and then some.

White Blaze roared again, louder his time. He knew how close Ryo was to sleeping. He also knew if Ryo fell asleep, he might not wake up again, not with the condition he was in right now.

"I'm awake Blaze, promise," he whispered, his voice faint. He barely noticed White Blaze's nod, and completely missed the fact that the tiger's pace had doubled. After a few more minutes he felt White Blaze stop, then kneel down so he could climb, or in this case roll, off. "M'kay Blaze."

He heard a noise that he knew he should recognize as he slid off White Blaze, but he was much too tired to care that he just plain didn't know what he was hearing. He closed his eyes momentarily as the world spun around him, leaning heavily on his tiger companion. White Blaze looked up at his charge then and knew he had to hurry in getting Ryo inside, so he urged Ryo forward. Once they got to the door, Ryo brought up a loose fist to knock, then realized he just didn't have the strength to knock hard enough for anyone to hear him. He started to turn around, then stopped once he heard someone calling him.

"Mia?" he questioned softly, his eyes still half closed.

"You're soaked!" she cried out in surprise, looking them both up and down. She saw the worried gleam in White Blaze's eyes and her own eyes widened in fear. "Get in here!"

"M'k," he agreed, his voice no more than a whisper.

Mia immediately grabbed a hand full of the blanket Ryo was wrapped in to pull him inside when he didn't move. She looked back out the door once, noticing the two cars pulling in the drive and left the door ajar. "Come on, you need to get dried off, Ryo," Mia said, leading him towards the stairs. Once there, Ryo simply stared at the stairs, as if asking what they were doing there.

"Go on, go get yourself dried up." Ryo nodded slowly, then moved even slower in his quest to climb the stairs, all the while leaning heavily on White Blaze. Mia stood at the base of the stairs, watching her friend struggle to make it up the stairs. She almost went after him, but stopped when she heard the front door close.

"Where'd Ryo go?" Rowen questioned when they found Mia watching the empty staircase.

"Upstairs, to dry off," she answered, turning around to face them. She wished now more than ever that the tiger could talk so she could understand him, because the guys didn't look near as worried as White Blaze had. Something was wrong. "What happened?"

"We aren't really sure. He didn't say much," Cye answered, looking at the top of the stairs.

"Hmm…" Mia glanced in the direction Ryo had gone once more before facing her friends again. "Well, come on, I'll make us some tea," she said as she lead the group to the kitchen. Everyone settled down around the table while Mia set about making the tea. As the group started fidgeting in their silence, Raye grew more and more nervous. Mia kept quiet for the most part, waiting to see if anyone would start talking. They never did stay quiet for long, someone was always thinking aloud, this time was different and it worried her. After a few more minutes of silence, she finally turned around again. "So," she started as she rested her eyes upon the one person she didn't know, "What's your name?"

"Huh? Me?" Raye asked, looking up in surprise. When Mia nodded with a small smile, she answered. "I'm Raye."

"Raye?" Mia questioned, looking a little more than surprised herself. "The Raye?"

"What are you talking about, Mia?" Rowen asked, stating the group's confusion.

Mia simply waved off Rowen's question and continued to watch Raye. "Ryo's sister, Raye?" Raye nodded slowly since her voice seamed to have left her momentarily.

"How did you…?" Kento started, his eyes wide.

"Ryo told me a little about her," Mia answered then stopped when she saw the surprise on their faces. "What? He didn't tell any of you he had a sister?"

"No, actually, he didn't," Cye replied, shaking his head slowly.

"It would appear that he's told you more than he's told us," Sage commented, but before he could continue, Raye interrupted him.

"Why would he tell you anything after you guys dropped him three years ago?" Raye demanded, her anger at them finally returning.

"I told you, that wasn't our fault!" Kento declared, jumping up so fast his chair toppled. Mia's surprise immediately switched over to confusion as she watched the group before her grow tense and angry.

"Oh, so I suppose you tore that place apart looking for any trace of him before leaving then?" Raye demanded, standing up now as well.

"Well…" Kento faltered.

"Then how was it not your fault?" Raye almost yelled.

"Whoa, what are you talking about?" Mia questioned. Maybe this had something to do with why the guys hadn't mentioned Ryo in three years, and why Ryo changed the subject every time she mentioned the guys. Did they get into a fight or something? Were they angry with each other, is that what this was all about? Mia looked at the group expectantly. Raye and Kento both grew silent, Rowen and Cye looked anywhere but at Mia. Sage had closed his eyes again, resting his head in his hands and took a deep breath. "Well?"

"A little under three years ago there was a fight on the outskirts of the city. Remember those old warehouses where we caught up with Ryo fighting Saranbo?" Sage asked. Mia nodded, knowing Sage wouldn't see it as his eyes were still closed. "That's where this one took place. We hadn't fought this enemy before, I'm not even sure where he came from. He was powerful, more powerful than we'd originally thought." Sage shook his head now, falling into his memories. "It was raining, much like it is now and we were quickly losing the fight. We all got pulled away from Ryo somehow, he got cornered into fighting alone. Next thing we knew he was in just his sub armor, then his street clothes. We tried to get to him, to block anymore attacks directed towards him but he was thrown into one of the warehouses before we could get to him…" Sage trailed off there. Somewhere during his retelling of events, Mia had sat down and was now watching him intently.

"What happened then?" she asked when Sage stopped.

"The building just exploded," Rowen said. Even with how quietly as he spoke, Mia and Raye still jumped. "We didn't have time to get to him before the explosion. We couldn't get anywhere near the building. We were going to go back for him, but we felt his armor disappear. We felt him die through the armor's bond."

"Wait," Mia interrupted incredulously. "You're saying Ryo was killed? That doesn't make any sense. None of that makes any sense."

"Well, he obviously wasn't killed. The question is why did our armors tell us he was dead?" Cye spoke up.

"No, not just that. You said just under three years ago, right?" Mia asked. The guys just nodded now. "We need to find out more about who you were fighting then."

"Why's that, Mia?" Rowen questioned. He was beginning to think Mia knew more than what she was telling them.

"Because Ryo wasn't here at that time. He went to England almost three and a half years ago, he just moved back two weeks ago. He wasn't here for that fight," Mia said, starting to stand up once again.

"He wasn't here?" Kento asked slowly, letting that information sink in. "Wait, you knew he was alive this whole time and didn't say anything?"

"You never told me about any of this till now, how was I supposed to know you thought he was dead? Besides, any time I mentioned him, you guys changed the subject on me," Mia replied. "So what do you know about what happened recently? Why he looks the way he does right now?"

"Like we said, we don't really know. He was in the mountains when we found him," Cye answered.

"Hey Mia, do you know who Ameena is?" Sage questioned.

"Ameena? What about her?" Mia asked, stunned to hear that name from them.

"That's who Ryo was looking for. He said that the guys he was fighting up there took White Blaze and Ameena," Kento answered.

"She's here?" Mia exclaimed. She quickly left the room before anyone could ask another question.

"Mia?" Cye called after her.

"What was that all about?" Rowen asked. The rest of the group just shrugged.

"Should we follow her?" Kento asked, eyes on the door.


"Ryo? Can I come in?" Mia asked from the hallway after knocking on Ryo's door. She waited a moment before raising her hand to knock again. Before her knuckles met the wood, she heard White Blaze growl softly from within the room. She quickly opened the door without waiting for an answer from Ryo. Once inside Mia saw White Blaze sitting next to the bed on the far side of the room. Ryo was laying on the second bed, facing the wall and wrapped in a blanket.

"Ryo? You awake?" Mia questioned as she quickly crossed the room. "Ryo?" Mia reached out a hand to shake his shoulder then pulled away when she felt the wet blanket. Ryo hadn't dried off, or changed for that matter. He was still soaking wet and now freezing cold, his lips now held a slight blue tint.

"Ryo, you have to wake up!" she said, shaking his shoulders roughly now, her main reason for checking on him forgotten. Ryo mumbled something weakly but made no other move towards getting up. "White Blaze, go get the guys, and hurry." She went back to shaking Ryo until he finally opened one eye a crack.

"You need to stay awake, got it?" Mia demanded. Ryo lay still for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Why didn't you change into dry clothes?" she asked in an attempt to keep him awake. She glanced at the door when the others finally came in, then turned her attention back to Ryo without answering the questioning looks the guys were giving her.

"Won't leave her alone again," Ryo mumbled softly between chattering teeth. "Won't do it."

"Won't leave who alone, Ryo?" Mia questioned.

"I think the cold has gotten to him, he's delirious," Kento said seriously from the doorway. Mia glanced up then and sent a look to Kento that very clearly said 'shut up' before looking at Ryo once more.

"I'm not so sure about that," Mia said softly, watching Ryo carefully.

"Ameena," he whispered, his eyes closing once more.

"I told you to stay awake!" Mia exclaimed, then noticed Ryo's death grip on the blanket encasing him. "Rowen, Sage, go get some dry towels and another blanket. Cye and Raye, go downstairs and get two cups of tea and soup please. Kento, you stay here," Mia ordered then focused solely on Ryo while everyone went about the tasks she'd given. She started to pull away the blanket but stopped when Ryo wouldn't let it go. "Ryo, let go of the blanket. You're safe here, remember?" she asked softly. Kento gave them a funny look as he came closer to the bed, curiosity getting the best of him.

Ryo lifted his head slowly and looked Mia in the eyes.

"Do you trust me?" she asked. He watched her for a moment before finally nodding. "Then let go." After another minute, he finally did as told and released his grip on the blanket. Kento watched curiously as Mia took a deep breath then lifted the edge of the blanket so only she could see beneath it. After a moment she smiled softly. "That's what I thought."

"Mia?" Kento questioned as he came around to her side. He looked down and saw what Mia was smiling at and his jaw hit the floor. "Holy sh-"

"Kento, you hold her while we wait for those blankets. He's trying to keep her warm, but his body temp isn't high enough to help her," Mia said as she gently lifted the small black haired child away from Ryo. Ryo whimpered softly in protest, but made no move to prevent Mia from taking the girl.

"Maybe it wasn't so much to keep her warm as it was to keep himself warm," Kento said quietly as he took the small girl from Mia.

"That's what I'm afraid of, Kento," Mia admitted as she crossed the room once more, this time going to the dresser.

"What are you doing?" Kento asked.

"Getting some dry clothes."

"He still has clothes here?" Kento asked in surprise. Mia only nodded as she pulled out two shirts and a pair of pajama bottoms. When she got back to Ryo's side, Rowen and Sage appeared with the blanket and towels.

"Alright, this was the only spare blanket we could find, but there were… plenty… of…" Rowen trailed off, looking just as surprised as Sage at the moment. "Where did she come from?" he asked, referring to the child in Kento's arms.

Mia simply ignored the question and grabbed a towel from Sage, then headed back over to Kento. "I'll take her now. You guys get Ryo dry and help him get changed." Kento handed the girl over to Mia while Rowen and Sage nodded dumbly.

"Here's the soup and tea, Mia," Cye said, walking into the room with Raye right beside him.

"Who's that?" Raye questioned, spotting the child as well.

"Just set it down right there," Mia said softly, pointing to the night stand.

Cye sent Kento a questioning look. Rowen and Sage shrugged and continued to strip Ryo of his shirt and pants while Kento held Ryo in a sitting position and kept him from falling asleep. "Not sure, but Ryo was holding her under that blanket he found." Kento spoke.

"This," Mia started, now that everyone was in the room, "is Ameena." Mia had just pulled the clean shirt over the girl's head and was now letting Ameena sit on the empty bed. The little girl just sat there, watching the three guys dry off Ryo. She'd looked up at Mia when she heard the woman say her name, then looked away again when she saw everyone watching her.

"That's Ameena? How do you…?" Raye asked, sitting on the edge of the bed as well.

"Ryo sent me a picture of her earlier this year," Mia answered, watching Ameena.

"But… Who is she?" Kento asked the question they had all been thinking. Well, everyone but Mia.

"Ryo will have to tell you that, when he feels up to it that is," Mia said, glancing at Ryo. He was in no condition to do much of anything. It was going to be a challenge to keep him awake long enough to get him to eat the soup before it got cold. Someone would have to carry him downstairs so he could warm up in front of the fireplace. She'd seen all the wood outside earlier that day and brought some in, knowing Ryo would be coming some time that week. Now she was glad that she did because if she hadn't, Ryo would be worse off than he already was.

Mia looked over at Ameena when she felt the mattress sink in gently next to her. Ameena had found the soup on the night stand and had decided to investigate. Mia chuckled quietly before picking the little girl up. "Are you hungry?" Ameena looked at the soup then Mia, then back at the soup again. After a moment she nodded quickly.

"How old is she, Mia?" Raye finally asked.

"Three I believe," Mia answered, looking at Ameena.

"I tree!" Ameena said holding up two fingers with a big smile, her big blue eyes just as bright as Ryo's. Mia couldn't help but laugh out loud this time at the enthusiasm Ameena had over her age. Mia looked over at Ryo again and noticed him watching her and Ameena. He looked almost afraid, but Mia couldn't figure out why. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him but she knew that now wasn't the time. He probably wouldn't know what she was talking about right now, he didn't really seem to know where he was. She wasn't even sure he knew who all was in the room with him. She watched quietly as Sage pulled the dry shirt over Ryo's head, frowning slightly when she realized Ryo had yet to look at any of his friends. There's more to this than even the guys know. Why did Ryo just take off like he did? That wasn't like him, it wasn't like him at all. Something happened to him, something scared him, shook him to the core… But what the hell was it?

"Okay, he's as dry as he's going to get right now," Rowen stated as Sage and Cye eased Ryo back onto the mattress.

"Good. Kento, could you take Ameena downstairs with you? Put in a movie or something for her. If someone could get a fire going, that'd be great. I brought some of the wood in this morning. I'm going to try getting Ryo to eat before we take him downstairs."

"Do you need any help, Mia?" Raye questioned.

"No thanks, just help them watch over her," she said gesturing toward the child Kento was now holding. Ameena watched Ryo as they left the room, then could be heard fussing a little when she couldn't see him anymore. Mia waited quietly until everyone was gone, and she sat alone with Ryo and White Blaze. White Blaze growled softly, causing Mia to look at Ryo once more.

"No, I don't think so Ryo, you're staying right here for a little while. Nothing is going to happen to her here," Mia said softly, sitting next to Ryo on the bed. Ryo looked at her for a moment, then back at the door. A moment later, he focused on Mia once again.

"K," Ryo whispered softly, then slowly closed his eyes.

"No, not just yet, Ryo," she said, gently shaking him awake. "You need to eat something, then we're going downstairs too. You can sleep in front of the fire."

"Fire good."

Mia couldn't help but laugh at that. She helped Ryo to sit up so he could eat, or attempt to eat, his soup. He ended up eating half of it. Mia thought about pushing him to eat more, then really looked him over. After taking in his appearance, she decided that what he had eaten was better than nothing and she'd leave it at that. For now.

After letting Ryo rest a bit longer, Mia helped Ryo to stand. White Blaze was immediately on Ryo's other side and stayed there until they had made it downstairs. The tiger then went straight to the living room and laid down next to the fireplace. Mia simply shook her head at the tiger, then glanced at Ryo once more. His eyes were closed again and he was leaning heavily on her for support. She knew he wouldn't be able to remain awake much longer, he was quickly losing that battle as it was. He needed sleep, she could see that much, she just hoped that they didn't lose him in his sleep.


So... That was that. As always, let me know what you thought. Laters.