Inside a Box
Chapter 2- A Home
"Master?" wondered Ryo.
"Hn. You boys explain it to him since you're so eager to have him here," said Anubis. "We'll start repairs." The adults left the room grumbling.
"Okay!" shouted Kento. "Before we start story time, let's introduce ourselves. The name's Kento."
"Rowen here."
"I'm Cye. Nice to meet you."
"Sage."
"And we can't forget Whiteblaze." Kento gestured to the tiger who growled in greeting.
"…I'm Ryo….Ryo Sanada. What about those other guys? Who are they?"
Rowen answered him. "The grump misters? Yeah, not to friendly fellows."
"They are nice once you get to know them," said Cye.
"Nice? They treat us like kids still! We're just as strong as them," argued Kento.
"Going back on track," started Rowen, "They are Anubis-"
"Red-head," interrupted Kento.
"Cale."
"Scar-face."
"Dais."
"Cyclops."
"And Shekmet."
"Snakey."
"Okay…. But what's-" Ryo's sentence was interrupted by a rumble from his stomach. Ryo blushed.
"You must be starving. I'll be back in a jiffy." Cye dashed out of the room.
"Awesome! You're in for a treat. Cye's a great cook." Kento clapped his hands. "Wonder what he'll make?"
Ryo wondered how Cye could make anything with no food. When a meal was brought before him, however, he could have cared less. Warm pancakes lathered in butter and syrup, a fluffy biscuit and some scrambled eggs filled his belly. He gave Whiteblaze the sausage and bacon, to full to eat anymore. Orange juice washed it all down.
As he ate, the others got a good look at their new companion. He looked to be about 15-16. Ryo was skinny from malnutrition, but not yet dangerously so. Unkempt raven hair fell into tiger blue eyes and bushed his shoulders. His clothes were dirty and torn, suggesting that he had been on the streets for a while.
The four boys shared a look, all thinking the same thing. They would look after him from now on.
Finally done with his meal, Ryo turned his attention to the others. "So what was that about 'master'?"
"Well, first off, we're demons," explained Rowen. "We each have our own specific power but we'll get to that later. For a complex unimportant reason we were sealed away in the box. It could only be opened by a descendant of a friend of ours; Hariel Sanada."
"Sanada?" Ryo uttered in awe.
"Yes, your ancestor apparently. So we waited for someone to release us. Then some power hungry person who had Sanada blood wanted to use us to conquer Japan. However, a Koji took the box and hid it. For generations the box was kept with the Kojis. The last Koji died a year ago, leaving us here."
"And what luck! You come along and free us! Thank you so much man!" Kento attacked Ryo with a bear hug, knocking them both to the floor.
"You're welcome, I guess."
The four older demons re-entered the room.
"We're almost done," stated Anubis. "We have a few more rooms to do."
"So get your lazy asses up and get out," commanded Dais.
"Oh you know you love us," teased Rowen.
"Like I love a hole in the head," muttered the white haired man.
"We'll leave the room." Sage lead the other teens out of the room, Whiteblaze trailing by the human.
Cale sniffed in disdain when Ryo passed. "Give that filthy thing a bath if you're going to keep it."
Ryo stiffened for a moment before hurrying out into the hall. The demonic teens sent piercing glares at Cale before following Ryo. The man merely grunted.
Shekmet smirked. "You got them pissed. And Cye's never pissed."
"That boy is just a weakling brat," said Cale.
"Be that as it may, he is a Sanada and, as such, that makes him our master," explained Dais.
Out in the hall, Ryo was leaning against the wall, lost in his thoughts.
'You filthy little weakling! You useless brat!'
"Are you okay, Ryo?" Cye questioned worriedly.
"Uh...Yeah. I'm fine."
Kento punched his fist into his palm. "That bastard."
"He had no right to say that," agreed Rowen.
"It's no big deal guys," Ryo said in an effort to sooth his new friends. "Really." Seeing the concern still on their faces, he decided to change the subject. His gaze swept down the hall and he blinked in wonder. "What happened?"
The old decrepit hall was restored to a livable quality. Dust no longer carpeted the floor and the framing was in place along the walls.
"Oh. The others are warlords," said Kento as if that explained everything.
Ryo blinked. "Huh?"
Rowen gave the larger boy a shove. "He needs a better explanation then that." He turned to Ryo. "The others are warlords. That means they have other abilities then their respective powers. Me and the guys are ronins. We are ranked lower and only have our elemental powers."
"Doesn't mean we can't kick their butts though," stated Kento.
"Kento, honestly," sighed Cye.
"What are your powers, anyway?" asked Ryo.
Sage held out his hand. A orb of light flashed above his palm. "I have power over light. Rowen controls air. Cye; water, and Kento earth." The group started walking down the hall. "The warlords have power over the four seasons; Summer, Winter, Spring, and Autumn. They have a secondary power as well; illusion, darkness, poison, and deception."
"The elements and the four seasons," Ryo whispered. "But the other powers…they sound so evil."
"They are demons," stated Rowen.
The teens explored the rest of the newly rebuilt temple. There were many bedrooms furnished simply with beds and dressers. The den was stocked with a collection of books on a large oak bookshelf. Comfy chairs were set around an old TV. An old computer sat in the corner on a desk. Ryo noticed the technical items were in the same state as before.
Guess the warlords can't handle technology, thought Ryo.
"Oh yeah! I'm liking this!" exclaimed Kento. The group had left the house to explore the grounds and found a large hot spring bath. The water was completely clear. Steam could be seen slowly rising before fading from sight.
"Look, there are bath supplies over here," said Cye who was kneeling in front of a cupboard.
"What do you guys say to a little relaxing," suggested Rowen. He glanced around at his companions. Kento and Cye nodded in approval. Sage, however, gestured with his head to the human. Ryo stood frozen, his eyes glazed as he was lost in thought. "Or we can do something else," he said quickly, hoping to end Ryo's silence. "What do you say, Ryo? Ryo?"
An eight-year old Ryo was dragged to a large porcelain tub. The woman was yelling and cursing, but Ryo paid no attention to the words. He was too afraid.
He was roughly grabbed by his hair. With a powerful jerk, his head was submerged in the hot water. He tried to fight but his struggling was useless. The water burned his face and his lungs as bubbles if air flew past his mouth.
He was pulled out of the water, his body trying desperately to expel the water and take in oxygen. Ryo's face was turned towards the woman's. The smell of alcohol lingering on her words.
"Die you filthy little weakling! Just Die!"
And he was pushed into the burning water again.
"Ryo?"
Tiger-blue eyes blinked to find four demons looking at him worriedly. "Huh?"
"We wanted to know if you want to relax in the baths or do something else," said Cye. Sea-blue eyes scanned Ryo's face for a clue to his new friend's strange behavior.
"Are you ok, man?" questioned Kento.
Ryo gave a slight smile. "I'm okay. Just a little tired. We can do the baths."
Sage walked over to the dark teen and placed his palm against Ryo's forehead. "You're slightly warm. Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
Cye nodded. "Alright. We won't stay in long though."
In a flash of light, the armor the demons wore vanished, replaced by kimonos instead.
"You know," started Rowen as he studied Ryo's clothing, "we really should get more modern clothes."
Kento punched his fist into the air. "Alright! Tour of the town!"
"With what money?" Sage's question broke the his companion's celebration.
"It's okay," comforted Ryo. "Your kimonos look really cool."
"But we want something modern!" Rowen and Kento whined.
Cye's voice of reason spoke up. "We'll just have warlords make us some."
"But we want to go out!"
Sage sighed before taking Ryo's arm and pulling him away towards the showers.
"Just ignore them."
"Oh…kay…."
Ryo sat on the edge of the bath, a white towel wrapped around his waist. Blue eyes were staring at his submerged legs.
Kento's voice caused him to look at his companions. "Stop sitting around and come in, Ryo," called the demons from near the center of the spring. Cye was floating in the water. Sage sat silently nearby, just enjoying the water. Ryo blinked. Where was Rowen?
Suddenly, Ryo felt his body pushed forward, Rowen's voice behind him. "Jump in, Ryo!"
Ryo felt his body hit the water. Then he was under, hot water filling his mouth.
"Die you filthy little weakling!"
No…..
"Just Die!"
NO!
Something tugged on his body was he was pulled out of the water. Air rushed into his lunged forcing Ryo to cough out the unwanted liquid. He opened his eyes to see that was Kento was holding him up as Sage rubbed his back to help sooth the ache in his chest. Cye worriedly stood at his side. Rowen stood in from of him looking guilty, worried, and horrified at the same time.
"Oh Kami! I'm so sorry Ryo!" he pleaded.
Cye, certain Ryo was breathing normally now, scolded the blue haired boy. "I can't believe you did that, Rowen!"
"I know! I'm sorry. I was only trying to get him to join us."
"By drowning him!"
"Easy, Cye," soothed Kento. "He didn't mean it."
Ryo pushed out of Kento's arms and made his way towards the edge. "It's okay. It was just an accident." He threw a nervous smile over his shoulder. When he laid his arms of the rock ring to pull himself up, Sage spoke.
"We'd never let you drown Ryo. We wouldn't let anything happen to you." The others voiced their agreement.
Whiteblaze, who had been napping in the corner until the whole mess started, padded over to Ryo and gave his face a lick, as if to show his agreement as well.
The human's head lowered, dark bangs hiding his eyes. "Thanks guys." Quickly he turned, throwing water at Rowen. "Got'cha!"
"Gah! Why you!"
And so began a hot springs water fight. Whiteblaze wisely stayed away.
That night, Ryo lay in bed, his mind thinking over everything that happened today. The room was a guest room near where the younger demons were located. They had wanted Ryo to have the master bedroom, but the warlords were against it. Ryo was not the leader in their eyes. Even if the human had released them from the box.
Speaking of the box, it now lay on the dresser. It was just an ordinary box now. The only remarkable things about it were the carvings. Cye had handed it to him earlier saying he could use it to keep his treasures. Ryo had no such things, however he accepted it anyway.
Tiger-blue eyes looked over to the box. In a way, he could say that box was his treasure. Because of it, he had friends-albeit demonic ones and an abnormal tiger. Said feline was sleeping on the floor next to the bed. He seemed to have dubbed himself as Ryo's guardian. He also had a home. Something he hadn't had in a long time.
With a contented sigh, the teen snuggled into the warmth of the blankets. Sleep called to him quickly. Before the land of dreams whisked him away, Ryo could only hope he wouldn't wake up to find it all a dream.