Wow, you’re back and so am I. How impressive. Sorry about the couple of typos in chapter one. I need to proofread more. I promised some revelations and you’ll get them. Don’t worry if you don’t see the story moving as fast as you’d like it. I’ll get around to all kinds of things eventually. As always, the ronins and their compatriots don’t belong to me, I’m just borrowing them, if you’re lost e-mail me, if you have comments, please e-mail me, and happy reading

Chapter 2

"Uli, why don’t you and White Blaze go watch TV for a little while. I think Jeopardy is on," Ryo said, breaking silence that was so thick one could cut it with a knife.

"But I’m hungry," Uli whined. "And if I leave Kento’ll eat all my dinner!"

"We’ll make sure he doesn’t, now go on," Ryo said, making it clear that he was to be obeyed. He watched to make certain that Uli actually left the room. "Now that he’s gone, I think you have some explaining to do," Ryo said, to Rhiannon. And then to Sai, "Can you hold dinner for a little while?"

Sai, who had recovered sufficiently from the shock of seeing a Lady Kayura look alike in his dining room retorted, "Sure, no problem." ‘I slave for nearly three hours on a culinary masterpiece only to have to put it away and nuke it later because the Demon Priestess’ twin sister decided to drop by,’ he mumbled as he carried the dishes back to the kitchen.

"I think we should sit down," Ryo said. They sat. "Now," he said, addressing Rhiannon, "start talking."

"About what?"

"You know what. How do you know Lady Kayura?"

"There are six of us and one of you. Start talking," by this time Sai had returned to the room and sat with the others.

"That makes a lot of sense," Rhiannon said sarcastically, "but I’ll be the mature one and start this off, but there’s not much to tell.

"About two weeks ago, when this whole Talpa mess started I noticed a bunch of people running around on the roof of a building, five teenage boys, a white tiger, four older men, and an older woman. The boys introduced themselves as the Ronin Warriors. The men were Talpa’s four Dark Warlords and the woman announced herself as Kayura. When I first arrived at this house, I had a suspicion of who you five were, a white tiger is a little hard to hide. When Sai thought I was Kayura, all the pieces fit together and I just wanted to make sure you were who I thought you were, so I asked if you knew Kayura. That’s it, no deep dark revelations," Rhiannon concluded. ‘I hate lying to them. They deserve to know the truth. But it’s not exactly a lie, her mind tried to tell her conscious. Most of it’s true, and you can tell them soon enough.’ "I’m curious though, why did Sai call me Kayura?"

"’Cause you look as if you could be her sister," Sai said.

"How odd," Rhiannon mused. ‘If they only knew,’ she thought. "Now would you care to explain how you got to be who you are and where the tiger came from?"

Ryo gulped. Sai shifted in his chair. Sage straightened his sport coat. Rowen ran a hand thought his hair. Kento whined, "Can’t we tell her over dinner? I’m starving."

"Yes, Ryo, let’s eat," Mia said. "I’m sure Uli’s starving too."

"I want dinner!" came a plaintive cry.

"Weren’t listening, were you?" Ryo said. "Come on in, we’ll eat now. Sai, would you mind?"

Sai heaved a heavy sigh and got up to go back to the kitchen to get the dinner he just put away.

Rhiannon rose also, "I’ll help," she said. "I may not be able to cook, but I can serve."

"That’s quite alright," Sai said, he did not relish the thought of having to be around someone who was the spitting image of one of their greatest enemies. No matter how benign she seemed.

"Very well then," Rhiannon sat back down. "Would you care to tell me who you are, really?"

Ryo sighed and started, "Once upon a time— . Wait a sec. Mia said that she had taken some of your classes but you told Ro and me that you had only been here a short time. Care to explain your way out of that?"

"Sure, no problem," this time Rhiannon knew that she wouldn’t be lying to the boys. "I’ve only been here about two years. For me, that’s not long. And I told you that I hadn’t met many people because along with the classes I teach at the university, I also work full time in the hospital in town. I don’t get much of a chance to go out and party or hang out with people."

"I guess that makes sense," Ryo said, accepting Rhiannon’s explanation.

"I do not believe that a guest in my house is subject to such interrogations," Mia said somewhat angrily. "And especially a guest with such high standings in the whole area."

Rhiannon grimaced inwardly. ‘She’s going to kill me when she finally finds out the truth—the whole truth. Or maybe not. Maybe she’s had so many shocks that this will just blow by. It could go either way,’ Rhiannon thought. She really didn’t know what to make of Mia yet. "That’s all right. We all need to be extra cautious around now," Rhiannon said, trying to smooth things over. "Now would you care to continue explaining to me who you all are?"

"O.K." Ryo started again. "Once upon a time—"

"This should be good," Sage said sarcastically.

"Shut up," Ryo shot back. "Anyway, once upon a time, again, we were just five guys living around the city. We went to the same school but none of us would have freely chosen to associate with each other."

‘Wow, that book’s really paying off for Ryo,’ Rowen thought. ‘Now if we could just get Kento to read it, but unless it’s got pictures, I don’t think Kento’ll be real keen on picking it up.’

Ryo continued, "I met up with Mia and Uli in the city. Shortly there after, Sage, Sai, Rowen, and Kento dropped in on us. We met the Warlords and Kayura, that’s where you saw us. We didn’t fight that night but we went to see if her grandfather could help us. Unfortunately, he got possessed by one of the Warlords and he died. In the ensuing two weeks, we faced a Warlord or two a couple of times since. And then Ro and I met you."

"Thanks for leaving out all the gory details,"

"No problem, Sai."

"OH! OH! Can I tell her? Can I? Can I?"

"That’s quite alright, Kento. I think I can fill in the gaps myself," Rhiannon said. ‘Indeed I can. If they only knew that I’ve seen each one of their battles. Even the ones they’ve fought alone. Watching and waiting. It won’t be long now. I only wish I didn’t have to keep this secret. It’s killing me.’ "I heard the Warlords address you but they only used titles. Would you car to enlighten me as to who you are?" ‘As if I didn’t know. I know everything, their strengths, their weaknesses, their favorite foods. I must stop thinking this way. I can’t let them guess…’

"I’m Ryo of Wildfire." ‘Strong, stubborn and hot tempered,’ Rhiannon thought.

"Rowen of Strata." ‘Intelligent, calm, rational.’

"Sage of Halo." ‘Wise, polite, the world’s biggest player.’

"Sai of Torrent." ‘Meek, even tempered, and if dinner was any indication, a top notch chef.’

"And I’m Kento of Hardrock." ‘Bold, daring, and thinks with his fists—not necessarily a bad thing.’

"Well, now that we know who we all really are, I suggest we turn in—it’s rather late and God only knows what tomorrow will bring," Mia said as she rose to begin clearing the table.

At that moment, and ear piercing howl coursed though the night.

"What in God’s name was that?!" Sage stood in a rush, nearly knocking his chair over backwards. White Blaze stood almost as quickly, his ears pricked up and the hair on the back of his neck standing straight up making him look twice as big—not a pretty sight.

There, the howl came again. It was a keening cry so sharp and piercing that could have emanated from the throat of the HellHound itself.

"Mia, I’m scared," Uli cried as he clung to Mia’s leg.

"Don’t worry, Ul, we won’t let anyone hurt you," Ryo said, but not without a slight waver in his voice. The boys all had on their sub-armor but it was Rhiannon who was the only one who seemed unafraid. Indeed it was almost as if she was expecting what was coming.

She cocked her head and listened for the cry to come a third time. And it did come. When she heard it, she rose, waked tot he door and opened it.

"Rhiannon! What are you doing?!" Sage yelled as he ran after her.

"I knew she was Dynasty," Sai cried. "And now she’s led them right to us."

"Mia, Uli, stay back. Let’s go trash that Dynasty chic!" Ryo said to the three remaining ronins.

"Uli, you stay here," Mia said, then ran after the boys, neither heeding nor caring about Ryo’s command.

"Baby!" came a high pitched cry in Rhiannon’s voice.

"What?!" came another cry—this one in the ronins’ blended voices.

"You guys can relax now. This is Onyx, my baby."

"That’s one weird looking baby," Kento said.

"Mia, would you mind if Onyx stayed with me?" Rhiannon asked, stroking the huge black dog’s head. "I forgot to mention her. I didn’t think she’d come after me this soon.

"I’ve got a white tiger living with me. As long as they can get along, I don’t care what you bring into the house."

"Oh, I can assure you they’ll get along."

White Blaze and Onyx were re-acquainting themselves—apparently they had met before.

"Mia, can we go to bed now?" Uli whined from the doorway.

"I thought I told you to stay inside," Mia said.

"I thought I told you to stay inside," Ryo said to Mia.

"I’m a—" Mia began

"How about we go inside, not have any more wars tonight, go to bed and we can discuss everything in the morning when no one wants to rip the other’s head off?" Rhiannon said, eager to get inside. She felt something in the air and it didn’t bode well if they got into a confrontation. ‘I wish I could recognize it,’ she thought to herself. ‘I know, baby,’ she sent to Onyx. ‘I feel it too, I just wish I could put my finger on it.’ Something had to be strange if Onyx sensed it too.

"You’re right, Rhiannon," Mia said. "Let’s all turn in for the night, we’ll all be thinking better in the morning." Mia and Ryo walked towards the house, Uli curled up in Mia’s arms. The others followed close behind.

Rhiannon clicked her tongue and Onyx lifted her head from some bushes she’d been sniffing around. "Come on, girl. You can frolic with Blaze later. I know you two have some catching up to do." Rhiannon turned and walked towards the house, Onyx and Blaze close behind.

As the door shut, nearly on White Blaze’s tail, a figure moved slowly out from behind the bush that Onyx was sniffing by. A figure that Rhiannon would have clearly recognized if she’d been able to sense the ki. As it was, the ki was so warped from his original that only one person could recognize it. Piercing green eyes stared at the door that had blocked the girl from his view. Why did he feel that he had once been so close to her. He knew that she had never had anything to do with his lord, her ki was too pure. But he did know her and they had been very important to each other. ‘Return,’ he felt the call. Before he teleported out a soft breeze ruffled his long red hair. A second later he was gone.