I don't own Ronin Warriors. OCs are mine.

Chapter 12

Tiffany sat outside with Iris, listening to her explanation about what was happening with the guys. Both of them had cups of tea in their hands and were sitting on the porch. Tiffany was staring at the cup in her hands as she listened to Iris, nodding along so Iris would know she was listening.

"Tiffany, I know Ryo was pushing you out of his life and you felt betrayed, but you must know that he wasn't doing this on purpose." Iris reached over and placed a hand on Tiffany's, giving it a gentle squeeze. "He loves you and he hates himself for what he put you through."

"I want to believe you, but there is a small part of me that thinks once I forgive Ryo, he's going back to the way he was."

"I know it's hard." Iris released Tiffany's hand and wrapped it around her cup. She raised it to her lips and took a sip of her warm tea. "It's hard to forgive someone who has hurt and betrayed you. But you must forgive in order to move on. You probably won't forget what Ryo has done and it may take time for you two to get over what happened, but the first step for that to happen is to forgive."

Tiffany mulled over Iris's words, bringing her own cup to her lips to take a sip. She remembered her time with Kaos, and the teachings he gave her and the most important one being the step to forgiving and moving on. She even told the Ronins that message when their friend died during the war with Talpa. Tiffany chuckled to herself.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. It's just ironic that I gave the Ronins the same speech when their friend died and now, you're giving the same speech to me." Tiffany looked up from her cup to look at Iris. "So…you lead my village or my aunt and uncle's village. I never saw you growing up there. Did you leave?"

"Kaos wanted me to get the Ronins together before he started training them. I had left many years before you were born to get myself prepared to live in a city, and to get myself familiar with that kind of life before I could find the Ronins. I decided to be a nanny for it would be easier to find them and care for them. During my nanny position, I would sometimes bring children from other families to play together, it was my way of getting kids to better behave around others. With the powers I had, I could feel who would have the armors so it was easy to identify who was who. So when I recognized the boys as the Ronin Warriors, I mainly started nannying them and then brought them together, slowly but surely. But I was happy to have met Ryo. I don't know what would have happened to him if I didn't bring him with his friends." Iris laughed and then shook her head. "I have so many stories about all of them…" Iris laughed again, reminiscing about her life as a nanny.

Tiffany smiled at Iris. "Why didn't you go back home? Why did you stay and work at the mall?"

"By the time I had gotten the Ronins together, a new leader of the clan was declared. Plus, I was happy where I was, and Kaos respected my decision. We would visit each other every now and again." Iris glanced down at her cup. "The last time we saw each other was before Talpa took over the city. I felt his presence leave this world when he passed." She stared at her cup for a moment and then snapped her gaze back up, shaking her head to get rid of the depressing thoughts. "It is important to forgive now before something happens."

Tiffany nodded her head, drinking more of her tea. Setting the teacup down, Tiffany set her gaze on Iris. "Could you send the guys out?"

"Wouldn't you rather go inside and talk with them?"

"There not many things to throw out here than in there."

"I understand." Iris got up from her seat and headed inside, giving Tiffany's shoulder a gentle squeeze as she passed her. Iris opened the screen door and called for the guys. She then walked back over and grabbed her tea, walking over to sit down away from Tiffany. She was only going to observe the exchange, and only go in if it was getting out of hand.

Tiffany finished off what was left in her teacup and then got up from her seat to stand.

The guys filed out of the house, standing before Tiffany who crossed her arms over her chest.

"We're sorry," started Rowen. "We're sorry that we fought in your house."

"You think I'm mad about that? I'm mad that you three," Tiffany gave pointed looks at Sage, Kento, and Rowen, "went at each other's throats without talking it over."

"Well Kento started it," muttered Sage.

"I don't care who started it! Geeze, you guys are acting like children! Pointing fingers and saying who started what. You're grown-ass men and you should start acting like it!"

The guys hung their heads in shame at what Tiffany had just said, knowing she was right. Ryo glanced up at her and was shocked to see Tiffany almost in tears, breathing heavily to try and keep them in.

"You're right, I'm sorry," apologized Sage.

"I'm sorry, too," Kento input.

"I don't understand what happened. Why did you guys not talk with one another?" Tiffany wondered.

"With everything that happened, with you and Ryo, it infuriated me when I heard what Sage and Rowen had said about you that I didn't want to listen to reason," explained Kento. "It seemed like you were going through so much and that they were against you."

"While I appreciate that Kento, please don't jump to conclusions again. And please ask for confirmation before you pull a stunt like that again." Tiffany turned to Sage and Rowen. "As for you two, don't leave like you did. When you left, I agree with Kento that it made you look guilty."

"I know, and we're sorry for it," said Sage and Rowen nodded in agreement.

Tiffany took in a deep breath and let it out, a small smile spreading across her face. "But you guys apologized to each other, right?"

"We did after Iris told us what had happened," explained Sage, nodding his head over to Iris.

"That's good." Tiffany laid her eyes on Ryo and her smile disappeared.

"Tiffany-" Ryo started but stopped when Tiffany raised a hand. She turned to the others. "Can you go inside?"

"Are you sure?" Cye asked, speaking up since he came outside. He kept silent because Tiffany didn't direct her anger at him and didn't want to be on Tiffany's bad side.

"Go inside," ordered Ryo. "Give us some privacy."

Iris stood up. "Come on, everyone." She ushered the others inside, leaving Ryo and Tiffany standing outside. The two stared at each other and the wind whistled in the background, lightly blowing their hair in the wind.

"I'm sorry," started Ryo. "I'm so sorry for everything I did and everything I put you through. I never wanted to hurt and I hate myself for what I did. I didn't know what I was doing until Iris set me free and told me what happened. I wish I could have been more aware of what I was doing so I could have gotten myself out of it sooner."

Tiffany stared at him, moving her arms to hold her stomach. She gripped her arms and her fingers dug into them, her nails almost breaking the skin. Ryo took slow steps toward Tiffany until he was right in front of her. He reached a hand out towards her but Tiffany flinched away, making Ryo drop his head.

"I can't forget what you did to me," Tiffany said, glancing at the ground. Ryo sighed, nodding his head. "But I know what you did wasn't really your fault." She glanced up at him and offered him a small smile. "I forgive you, but don't expect us to go right back to what we were. You did hurt me, and it's going to take a while for me to accept what happened."

Ryo reached out to Tiffany again and she didn't flinch from him this time which allowed Ryo to wrap his arms around her. He held her close to him and Tiffany undid her arms, wrapping them loosely around him. "I will do anything to see you smiling again."

Tiffany chuckled, squeezing her eyes shut and holding Ryo closer to her. Ryo rubbed his hand up and down her back and the gesture relaxed Tiffany. For the first time in a while, Tiffany felt like everything was back to normal.

"We were so close!" screamed Sephiran, throwing a chair across the room. "How could you all let this happen?!"

His generals were kneeling on the floor, avoiding their master's heated gaze. Mika and Asami were also avoiding eye contact with him.

"Master, that woman was different," answered Fuzen. "It was like she knew of our plans. She must have had something to do with the Ronins breaking out of their dazed state."

"But you could have taken down the temptress! Why didn't you?!"

"The woman had powers beyond our capabilities," answered Asami, daring to glance up at Sephiran. "Her powers were stronger than ours."

Sephiran glared down at her, knowing she knew something else but didn't say anything when Asami gave pointed looks at Mika. This was something that she shouldn't hear and she had to be out of the room for Sephiran to hear. Suddenly, Sephiran turned his anger towards Mika.

"It seems you weren't strong enough to get Ryo out of the temptress's spell."

Mika flinched at his statement, keeping her eyes on the ground. "I'm sorry."

Sephiran scoffed. "Get out of my sight. All of you." His generals stood up, bowed before him, and left you. "Not you, Asami." She stopped and walked over to him. They all waited until the doors closed to start talking. "What do you mean about that woman?"

"She had the power from the clan of the ancients. I think she was the Priestess at one point, but still has her powers."

"That changes things then."

"My Lord, why don't we just ambush them?" asked Kai. "We can overwhelm them and captured the girl."

"They know who we want and since they are no longer distracted, it will be harder to get my daughter." Sephiran walked over to his throne and sat down on it, setting his elbow on the armrest and laying his head on his palm. He tapped his fingers with his other hand on the armrest, thinking over what to do. An idea suddenly came to him and he lifted his head off his hand.

"You have an idea, my Lord?" wondered Kai.

"Yes, and if we pull it off, we will have what we want."