"Half an hour ago," Ryo said. He started for the door, grabbing his coat. Everyone else did so, too. Robyn turned off the movie just as everyone was heading out the door, White Blaze in the lead. She sighed, watching them go, deciding that it would be better if she stayed to keep an eye on Ryo's house while he and the guys went to find Grandma Sanada.
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Grandma Sanada, meanwhile, had left the theater after a long movie. It was just a tad longer than she'd expected it to be. She knew that Ryo would be worried about her if she didn't get home soon, so she tried to hurry. Little did she know, she was being followed. Once again, a tall, dark and shadowy figure made an appearance, but this time to stalk Grandma Sanada.
She hurried on along the street, trying to get home as soon as possible. ‘I hope Ryo, the boys and Robyn haven't made a mess,' Grandma Sanada thought to herself.
Her stalker closed in, and Grandma Sanada noticed a shadow on the ground behind her. She tried to walk faster than the follower, but to no avail. It reached out and grabbed her, turning her towards it. She shrieked.
Just then, a man approached from across the street. "Can't you pick on something more your size, ya big bully, as opposed to little old ladies trying to get home?" asked a catlike, baritone voice. The thing just looked at the newcomer as if he were trespassing on something important.
"Leave her be," spoke the man in blue-jeans and a white t-shirt, with platinum blonde hair and amber, tiger-like eyes.
"Or what," an emotionless voice asked, presumably from the shadow, "what will happen to me, Firalis? What are YOU going to do about it, hmmm?"
Grandma Sanada took the distraction as a chance to break away. She did, however it didn't help – she and Firalis were soon surrounded by a group of 10-15 shadowy figures. All of them spoke at once with the same creepy voice. "What are you going to do, Firalis?"
The man just smiled. "This." Firalis moved quicker than any of them could anticipate. He struck the first one in the face, and then proceeded to knock him out. This took Firalis a few seconds, and then he went on to the next one. A few of the attackers got wise after a moment, and attempted to gang up on Firalis. He grabbed the figure in front of him and spun him in the air around to where the gang was, knocking them all away. Firalis then knocked his bludgeon figure out, dropping him to the ground.
The remaining 5 ganged up on him, sending attacks his way. Firalis ducked and dodged, sending counter-attacks to his opponents' stomachs and faces. Before long, the group of attackers lay on the ground, all of them unconscious.
"Thank you, young man," Grandma Sanada said.
"No problem," Firalis replied. Just then, he heard a roar. He looked down the street to see White Blaze coming at him, full speed. He took a defensive stance between White Blaze and Grandma Sanada.
"It's OK, young man, that's just White Blaze," Grandma Sanada said. The young man was still on the defensive, but stepped aside. White Blaze trotted up to them, ignoring the stranger and sniffing at Grandma Sanada, making sure she was ok.
"Grandma!" Ryo yelled, running as fast as he could. He got there in time to see ten to fifteen shadowy figures on the ground around his grandmother and a stranger. The other Ronins soon followed. Sage just about fell backward when he saw who was standing with Grandma Sanada.
"Ryo, dear, I'm fine," Grandma Sanada said. "This nice young man here saved me from getting mugged." Ryo looked at Firalis and immediately noticed his eyes. Firalis sighed. "Well, I was passing through and noticed the guy following her. I know trouble when I see it."
"I'm sure you do," Sage said. Firalis looked at him and smiled. "Sage," he said, "so we meet again? I knew we would."
"Just what were you doing around here, hmm?" Sage asked.
"Just passing through," Firalis said, "on my way to visit a friend that I haven't seen in some time."
"I see…" Sage commented.
"Well, while I would love to stay and get to know you all," Firalis began, "I really need to get going. My friend isn't exactly expecting me, and I would like to see her tonight."
"At ten thirty?" Ryo asked, a little suspicious now.
"Given the circumstances, I don't believe she'll mind," Firalis said. "As I said before, it has been a very long time since we've seen each other, and considering she just got here, I think she'd enjoy my company." Firalis looked at them and sighed again, not expecting them to understand. "Well, good-night, ma'am, Ryo, friends, and Sage," Firalis said, turning to leave. "Perhaps we'll meet again."
With that, Firalis walked down the street, taking a turn. Before the Ronins knew it, he was out of sight. Ryo happened to look down at where the bodies were. …They were gone. Not even a trace remained of his grandma's "attackers."
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The apartment complex was quiet…almost too quiet for any place to be naturally. A light in one of the apartments still burned brightly, despite the lateness of the hour. Enya could be heard from the open window playing softly from the lit apartment.
Inside, Keitsu sat at her laptop, writing an e-mail to her dad. She jumped when she heard a roar emanate from somewhere in the distance. She recognized it and sighed. "White Blaze…" she said to herself, "It's only White Blaze, nothin' more," she told herself. She finished the e-mail and sent it, stretching. It was 10:45 already…just about time for her to go to bed. Today's events had been strange – it isn't every day that you get pounced on by a white tiger, especially not in the middle of walking home from orientation. This was going to be an interesting year.
She got up to turn the music off when she heard a light knock on the door. Only Ryo knew where she lived, and she doubted that he was the kind of person to make late-night stops at girls' apartments out of the blue.
"Who is it?" Keitsu asked.
"A friend," answered a muffled voice from the other side. She blinked, wondering who in the blazes it could be.
"A friend? Couldn't ye come back tomorra?" she asked.
"I'm afraid not, Miss Jirohime," answered the muffled voice. She couldn't tell who it was. But…something told her to answer.
Keitsu grabbed the flashlight that she kept in case of emergencies and walked towards the door. She opened it slowly, and was stunned by who she saw standing there.
"T..Trevor…?" she asked, awe-struck. Firalis smiled. "Yeah, Keitsu, it's me," he answered. She jumped at him and hugged him. "Ack!" he yelled, catching her around the waist, returning the embrace. "I'm glad to see you, too," Trevor said, moving an arm so as to allow him to stroke her hair gently. He walked back inside, half carrying her, and shut the door.
"How… how did you get here?" Keitsu asked, awe-struck.
"Well, after you left, I decided to find somewhere to work. My…tastes in work weren't able to be satiated, even in America," he said. "So, I turned to the international job market. I needed something with structure… I wanted something that was similar to a military job, but wasn't actually. I found just the job…" he smiled, looking down at her. "I…well…I can't really give too much information out about my job, but it fits everything that I needed it to be." ‘Including, as a bonus, that it was in the same country you were in,' he thought.
Keitsu let go of Trevor long enough for them both to walk to the couch and sit down. Once they were sitting, she hugged him again and clung. Trevor looked down at her and smiled.
"So I take it you missed me?" he asked teasingly.
"Of course ye silly boy! We only lived un'er the same roof for twelve years!"
Trevor laughed. "I'm just teasing you, Keitsu. I missed you too." ‘That's the reason I took this job over the other ones…' he thought to himself.
Keitsu glared up at him. She was used to how he teased her, but that didn't mean she liked it. However, on this occasion, she overlooked his slight badgering and just looked away, hanging on to him, as if the shadows in the room were conspiring to take him away from her. Trevor, too, could barely believe that he'd actually found her. It had been nearly a year since Keitsu had left home for college. Within a few months of her leaving, he realized just how important she was to him, and so also had to take leave. Since then, he'd been working for Shenakatsu and wandering the streets at night, looking for any indication of where Keitsu might be. At last, he'd finally found her!
"There's just… so much to talk about," Keitsu said through a yawn. Despite the excitement of this pleasant surprise, she was still exhausted.
"I know, Keitsu," Trevor said, looking down at her and stroking her hair. ‘Boy, do I know…' he thought, quite a few topics for discussion rushing through his mind as he watched her. They talked about anything and everything they could, far into the dawn hours.
"Oh my, did we really stay up that late?" she asked him as she glanced at the clock.
"I suppose so," he said, smiling at her. He was glad it was the weekend… he didn't have to be anywhere in particular, luckily for him. He smiled to himself as he witnessed her fretting over the time.
"I haven't done that in years!" she said. "You're a bad influence on me," she smiled.
"Oh yeah?" he teased, grinning.
"Yeah!" she said, grinning more.
The two argued on into the noon hours, the argument escalating into a tickling fight.
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After escorting Grandma Sanada home and cleaning up the mess from the party, the boys and Robyn stood outside, trying to piece together what happened earlier that night.
"Sage," Kento began. "Do you, uh… know him?"
Sage sighed. "I met him on the subway earlier tonight," he explained. "The guy gave me the creeps."
The guys nodded.
"Do you think he's up to no good?" Cye asked.
"No," Ryo said. "Why would he have helped out grandma if he were?"
"True," Rowen said.
"I didn't get a good feeling from him when I met him on the subway," Sage confessed. "He seemed like he was trying to test every fiber of what I was, just with a glance…"
"C'mon, Sage, we do that every day to ya," Kento joked, clapping his friend on the shoulder.
"Not like that," Sage said. "I've heard of a fighter's spirit and looking for any kind of weakness, but that was ridiculous. He's not human, that's for sure."
Everyone nodded.
"So, let me get this straight," Robyn said. "This …Firalis guy, you met on the subway and he totally weirded you out with a look, and then showed up to save Grandma Sanada when she was attacked by those…things?"
Sage nodded.
"He doesn't seem to be too bad, then. Just a little creepy," she finished.
"But he's not human. I think he's a demon of some kind, and they're never up to any good," Sage said.
The boys nodded in agreement.
"A normal demon would have cared less about her, though," Ryo pointed out.
"True," Sage agreed.
"So, what do we do about this guy?" Kento asked.
"Good question," Cye said.
"Maybe we should keep an eye on him?" Ryo suggested.
"Nah," Rowen said. "If this guy's anything like Sage thinks, that'll be too easy for him to guess."
"Good point," Cye said.
The boys became quiet, not really coming up with anything.
"I guess all we can do," Robyn said, "is wait and see if anything happens. He's not too bad, if what he did tonight is any indication, but that could have just been an act of kindness."
The five Ronins nodded.
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Ryo said.
"Uh huh," Kento chimed in.
With that, everyone went their separate ways for the night, each deep in thought, especially Sage.