It was going to be a long night.
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"Ummm, nice place?" Nikki ventured uncertainly.
The short dark haired woman raised an eyebrow at the dubious décor. She'd been confused when Mia had let her into her hotel room. At first she'd thought that Mia had gotten a room for her, which seemed strange since they'd planned to stay together. When she realized that this was where Mia lived now, Nikki didn't know whether to laugh or give her friend another big hug.
Despite her plane had being late, being jetlagged, and the fact that the man sitting next to her had systematically blown his nose and coughed every time she'd just been about to get to sleep, Nikki'd still greeted Mia warmly, hugging her and kissing her cheek happily. They'd laughed and joked about being adults now, and how that was no fun. How Mia was still taller and thinner and that was just not fair. They'd hugged again and been a little more girly than either one of them would later admit to. Then they'd driven back to Mia's place and had ordered a pizza along the way, hoping to beat the delivery guy.
Nikki now looked around and awkwardly set her bag down on the floor, brushing long strands of dark burgundy hair out of her eyes. Mia laughed softly and sat down on the standard reddish-brown "not quite comfortable" hotel comforter on her off-white "not quite comfortable" hotel bed.
"Thanks?"
Simultaneously they both burst out laughing. Nikki plopped down next to her friend and almost fell off the bed as it bounced back with a loud springing noise. Nikki snorted and jumped again.
"Definitely going up in the world Mia. Definitely."
"Be nice," Mia said, swatting Nikki's shoulder. "It's not that bad. Plus it's cheaper than renting a larger place. I travel enough that it's worth it."
Nikki looked serious for a moment, green eyes earnest as she turned to Mia.
"I agree," she said, patting Mia on the knee. "So. How much do they charge you by the hour?"
Mia grabbed a pillow and whomped Nikki over the head with it. Nikki jumped up, laughing, and retreated to the safety of the other side of the room. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she realized that her dress shirt had become untucked and she absently adjusted it. Smoothing her shirt, the short woman turned back to her friend.
Mia didn't look too good to her. Nikki had only seen Mia a couple times in the last few years, and none of those times had been when Mia was home. Nikki knew what too much travel did to a person, how tiring that kind of life was. There were barely perceptible circles under Mia's normally bright eyes. Nikki remembered when it was impossible to look at her friend without being able to see right down inside of her, into her soul. Now when she looked at her, all she could see was determination. Nothing else. Whatever drove Mia, whatever made her "Mia" had been locked up a long time ago. Nikki was still pissed about it, even years later.
"So." Nikki leaned against the oak TV armoire and crossed her arms loosely.
"So," Mia echoed.
"So where's this dig we're going to? I understand how very important it was that I see your beautiful new home, but let's get down to business. You said meet up here and then fly there. So Kenya? Somewhere in Africa? You made it seem far away."
Mia took a deep breath before saying, "Japan."
"Japan. Funny. Ha ha. Now really, where are we going?"
"Japan."
Nikki stared at Mia disbelieving until she realized her friend wasn't joking.
"WHAT? We're going where? I agreed to this under the assurance that we weren't going there!" Nikki's voice started to go a little shrill.
"Nikki, calm down. And I never said that, you just assumed," Mia explained rationally, all the while trying not to fidget with her hands, the way she always did when she was nervous. Nikki knew that habit and would use it against her. She clasped her hands together tightly just in case.
"Calm down?" Nikki sputtered furiously. "Calm down! You drag me half way across the world under the pretense of being a good friend and then you spring this on me! I was very happy, by the way, before you called. I have my own little closet at UCLA with my own little lab and a stack of consulting contracts that are going to make sure I can do anything within reason that I want to do. Which, if you didn't realize before hand, included never ever ever again going to Japan!"
At which point Mia had enough. Maybe it was because she was tired and had been for longer than she could remember. Maybe it was because she missed home. Or maybe that fact that when Nikki got wound up, her voice managed to reach octaves that most people never realized existed. Whatever it was, Mia sprang to her feet and glared at her friend.
"Nikki. Shut up." Nikki started at hearing that from her usually sweet friend. Her diatribe paused momentarily, giving Mia the chance she needed.
"Okay listen, I know why you hate Japan. I understand that. If anyone in the world could understand that it's me. But you know just as much as I do that the history of the Ronin warriors is important. And the purpose of this dig is that we found a temple that just might have some clues that might help us all. Us being all of us, the mortal realm, which you are very well aware of. And I need you to make sure that I get proper funding. So I will keep your butt with me until I get everything I need, because I am not going to miss anything that might keep them from getting killed. Them being Ryo, Kento, Sage, Cye, and-"
"Stop Mia, I get the point."
"And Rowen. So get over it Nikki. It was years ago. Plus you know it doesn't matter where either one of us is, we can't ever get away from it. So hiding is pointless."
Nikki glared at Mia angrily and Mia thought for a moment she wasn't going to cave. Finally her friend's shoulders slumped forward and she shook her head.
"I can't believe I'm going to do this."
"It'll be okay," Mia's voice softened as she sat back down. "You won't have to see anyone. We just need to drop by my place really quickly to check up on everything. I never see any of them anyway, only White Blaze every once in a while. He's usually off in the woods most of the time."
"Great," Nikki muttered. Mia couldn't help herself and laughed.
"You can't actually have a grudge against a cat, can you?" she asked with amusement. Nikki just grunted sourly and turned away. At the door came a knock and she stalked over, yanking the door open. An attractively exotic looking man smiled at her and started to say "pizza" when Nikki snatched the box out of his hands and snapped,
"You're late," before slamming the door in his face. There was a pregnant pause before another knock came at the door. Nikki had already turned away, opening the box and grabbing a hot slice.
"It's cold! Go away!" Mia thought she heard cursing in Portuguese on the other side of the door but no more knocks came. Mia started laughing harder as Nikki plopped down next to her and shoved a slice in her hand. Melting cheese burned Mia's finger and she quickly shoved the piece in her mouth.
"You know they don't do the thirty minutes or it's free thing here, don't you? This isn't America," Mia gently reminded Nikki through a mouthful of cheese. Nikki just glowered and finished her slice, grabbing another.
"I don't have to see any of them?" Nikki asked pointedly, wiping sauce from her mouth with the back of her hand.
"None of them. I promise. Then we'll be at the dig, and you won't see anything but dirt and equipment. Maybe you can convince someone to let you get the right stuff and we can start dating the artifacts right away."
Nikki sat quietly for a moment, munching viciously, before her eyes narrowed and she focused on the pizza box in front of her.
"Well we need to get a boron NMR first to make sure that we can analyze the…" Nikki drifted off into technical talk, boring and slightly confusing Mia, but eventually most of the scowl left her face. Yet despite immersing herself in the research both Mia and she loved, at the end of the night Nikki was still less than pleased.
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"Dammit Ryo, will you stop? That hurts!" Rowen snapped as he once again was pinned on the ground with a heavily armored knee dug deep into the scarcely protected underarm of his armor. Ryo released the pressure but took his time moving off. Rowen stood and brushed himself off, glaring furiously at the Ronin of Wildfire.
"What's wrong with you man?" Rowen spat, wiping a small trickle of blood that seeped from under his left arm. "You trying to kick my ass? Cause if it's like that I'll stop playing nice."
"Like you can do better than that," Ryo muttered and Rowen cussed at him, taking a step forward. Cye and Kento promptly stepped in between them, each pulling one away from the other. Rowen was pissed and Ryo looked like he couldn't care less.
"Gee, that was a good practice, why don't we all call it a day," Kento said in a cheerful voice, shooting Cye a look over his shoulder. Cye rolled his eyes in response, but threw his arm around Rowen's shoulder and half dragging him towards the house. Rowen shook free of the Ronin of Torrent and angrily stalked up the hill. Ryo watched him silently, a tiny speck of regret flicking in his eyes before the sleepy irritated look came back.
"Who's next?" he asked his team. Silence, then,
"Ouch, I think I pulled something-"
"Did you say that you smell burning? I better go check-"
"Umm, that's okay, I think I have a date or something-"
They all started in at the same time, casting around for ways to escape without notice. Ryo shook his head and sheathed his swords.
"Cye, you're fine, Sage nothing's burning, and Kento you can't think of anything better than you have a date?" Ryo raised an eyebrow. Cye managed to blush, Sage looked away, but Kento swung around on Ryo.
"Hey, it's possible! Who says that I can't get girls? Chicks dig the strong silent type." Kento grinned slyly and slicked his hair back.
"That would mean you'd have to shut up at some point," Sage commented dryly. Cye laughed and nodded his head. He moved over to Kento and started to give him a noogie, messing up the hair as much as he could. Kento tried to get away, locking Cye in bear hug.
"Hey little buddy, don't think cause I like you that I'll put up with…" Kento's voice began drifting away into a buzzing sound as suddenly Cye felt light headed. He began to see dark spots and his vision was swimming…
Swimming…he was in the water, his favorite place to be. The wetness felt cool against his skin after the summer's scorching sun. He rolled over on his back and floated effortlessly, feeling at one with the environment. His environment. He was a creature of the water, no matter how much time he spent on the land. He drifted…
He drifted until he could hear voices. Laughing and splashes and a small shriek as a female was dunked under the water. She came up sputtering and laughing at the same time. More splashing and then a male voice. A familiar voice. He knew what this was but he didn't want to see. He didn't want to know. He'd pretended for so long that it wasn't true. Not now…but he drifted closer…
Closer…her hand grabbed his and he pulled her into his arms. The watcher tried to close his eyes…closer…their mouths touched…the watcher cried out inside…look away, look away…closer…two figures turned to him…water dripped off wet skin, beading down slender arms…closer…they knew he'd seen…closer…she reached out for him…closer…the watcher fled…
One can only flee so fast when they're merely drifting along…drifting…water dripped off wet skin, leaking from closed eyes…drifting…water had been his favorite place to be…drifting…nothing would be the same...Cye! Cye!
Cye slowly came back to himself, realizing he was lying on the ground, the other three Ronins hovering worriedly over him.
"Cye!" Ryo exclaimed, helping him to sit up. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Cye said softly, rubbing his now throbbing temples. "I was just…drifting…I don't know." Sage knelt by Cye and placed a hand against his forehead. Normally they all welcomed it when Sage would check them to see if they needed healing, but this time Cye jerked back violently, causing Sage to fall back on his heels in surprise.
"No!" Cye snapped, feeling a surge of inexplicable anger at the others. "Sorry, I…just leave me alone." Cye pushed past them and up to his feet, staggering up the hill, ignorant of the confused expressions on Kento and Ryo's faces and the hurt one on Sage's. Aware that practice was definitely over for today, the others slowly walked back up to the house.