Chapter 1
“Robyn, what are we doing here again?” Kento whined.
“I told you already, we’re here to pick up my American friend’s little sister,” Robyn snapped, getting impatient.
“So how old is she?” Cye asked, wondering if he would have to baby-sit.
Robyn thought for a minute, then spun around to stare at her friend, “Last time I saw her she was 16, but that was awhile ago.”
Cye gave a small nod of acceptance before running his hand through is brown hair. Kento sighed and looked at his watch, “So after we get this girl, then can we go eat?”
Feeling like she was going to pull her auburn hair out Robyn let out a huge sigh, “Yes Kento.”
“Then lets find her,” the muscular boy chirped impatiently.
“That’s going to be easier said than done,” a blue haired teen piped in.
“How hard could it be to find one girl?” Kento replied, his patience finally coming to an end.
“Come on Kento, I’ll buy you something to eat while we wait,” Ryo offered.
Kento smiled, appeased for now, “Alright!”
Robyn sighed; suddenly she noticed a familiar blonde head coming into her line of vision. He looked solemn, arms crossed, face in an unreadable expression. The red head was about to comment when she heard an announcement:
“Robyn McCarthy, please come to gate D5, there is a message for you. Robyn McCarthy.”
“Well, I guess that’s her,” the girl observed.
“So lets get going!” Kento clucked from behind her.
***
“Here you are Ms. McCarthy,” the stewardess cooed, handing her the piece of paper. Robyn gave the woman a realistic simper as she opened the note, making sure to get out of the stewardess’ line of vision first. When she finished reading she let out a string of curses, slightly louder than she meant them to be.
“So what does it say?” Rowen questioned eagerly.
“Let me see,” Kento suggested as he snatched the paper, “Dear Robyn, sorry I’m late. I thought I’d check out the sights. Plus I’m kind of nervous about meeting your friend that you talked about. You know I’m sort of shy. Plus I got something to do. Anyway, I’ll see you at your house, since you did give me your address. I’ve called Mrs. Mouri to tell her I was coming. I guess she didn’t call you. Sorry, I’ll see you soon bye! -Meg.”
Cye sighed, “I bet mom just wanted us to get the note, that’s why she didn’t call.”
“I can’t believe she made us all come over here to get her, then leave!” Kento roared.
“Let’s just go home and torture the little pest,” the teenage girl hissed hatefully, venom in her words.
The others said nothing as Robyn stomped back towards the parking garage.
***
By the time the gang got to Cye’s house they had calmed down, a little, and were ready for a nice quiet dinner. Sage was still quiet, Kento still hungry and Cye still trying to calm Kento down. As soon as Robyn opened the door she was met with a strange sight. Mrs. Mouri was sitting on the couch sipping tea and talking with an excited young teen, who also held a cup of tea.
“Oh Cye, Robyn your home,” Mrs. Mouri observed happily, “I was just talking to our new guest.”
The brunette finally turned so all could see her. She had pale blue eyes, shoulder length brown hair framing a slim yet ovalish face, she wore a pair of black jeans that hung loosely around her legs and a silver tank top that hugged her form.
The girl placed her cup of tea on the coffee table. The brunette stood up slowly and stared at Robyn, she studied her hair, eyes, face, and form carefully. After a minute the young girl gave a small smile, “It is nice to see you again Robyn, I’m sorry if I frustrated you with my absence at the airport.”
For a long time Robyn just stared at the brunette, she was so different from the shy girl she knew. “Megan?” Robyn tested hesitantly, “Megan Nightling?”
The brunette smiled and nodded in reply, “So you do remember, I’d thought you’d forgotten me.”
Robyn smiled evilly; she glared at the girl for a moment, “Yeah I remember, I remember that you left us at the airport!”
The blue-eyed girl took a step back, her face twisted into a fearful smile, “Uh…sorry?”
“Sorry ain’t good enough,” Robyn informed her.
“Um…I’m really sorry?” the girl tested hesitantly.
“Fine…”the red head finally accepted.
“So Robyn, who are your friends?” the brunette questioned curiously.
“OH! I forgot. These are my friends. Kento, eats a lot. Cye, childhood friend. Ryo, pyro. Sage, quiet type. And Rowen, smarty pants.” Robyn smiled, mischief apparent in her green eyes.
“I hate to break this up but can we eat now?” Kento whined pitifully.
“Alright Kento, I’ll fix you something to eat,” the brunette boy reassured his comrade, “Just hang tight.”
“Easy for you to say,” the hungry teen murmured.
Robyn pulled Megan into the kitchen so they could talk, plus Robyn was also starving.
“Ok, you’re forgiven, for now. So, Meg, what brings you to Japan?” the girl asked, stuffing a cookie in her mouth.
“Well, I already got out of school and I wanted to check out some colleges around here,” the young teen answered, watching Cye cook stirfry. The red head gazed at her brunette friend for a minute, then at Cye, who was too busy to notice his audience, “Oh, college huh? That’s cool. Anyway you got a boyfriend back home, or are you still searching?”
The girl gave Robyn a hateful glare, but just smiled, “No, I thought I might find one here.”
“Nah…nothing good here…they’re all a bunch of immature, selfish, irresponsible, impatient, snobbish jerks,” Robyn commented, adding a large amount of sarcasm into her tone. Megan just looked at her friend, then shook her head, “And my brother said you were the nice one.” Robyn gave the girl an innocent smile, but the brunette knew better.
Suddenly they were interrupted by a muffled cough. Both of the girls looked up to see Cye, holding a plate of veggies. He set the plate infront of Robyn, “So, Megan? Where in the U.S. are you from?”
“I’m from Florida,” the girl piped happily, fighting back the urge to tease this stranger about his accent, but decided not since she was teased a lot about her British ‘accent’, despite the fact that she grew up in Ohio.
Cye gave the girl a small smile, “I see, did you live by the beach?”
Megan returned the smile politely, “Well, it was about a 10 minute drive to the beach, so I suppose I did.”
The brunette boy smiled and went to get a plate for Kento. A mischievous smile crept upon Robyn’s lips, “So Meg, how’s your brother? Still single? Or did he hook up with that guy?” The question was suppose to make the brunette embarrassed, but Robyn had put it wrong.
“Why? You want to hook up with him?” the brunette asked calmly, but in a loud voice. The question immediately got a response of choking sounds. Robyn gave her friend a playful look; the blue eyed teen chuckled from under her breath and sipped her tea, which she had brought with her from the living room. The red head just looked at her friend, “Are you really Megan? You were never so…so…”
“So out spoken?” the brunette suggested.
“Yeah, that. You were never like that when I met your brother and he let me stay at his place all the time.” Robyn remarked.
Suddenly there was a stampede from the other room.
“Robyn, did I hear right? You stayed with a guy in America?” Kento queried.
“Well, yes, why do you ask? Jealous?” the green-eyed teen replied.
“What?! NO!” the guys said in unison.
“My brother helped her out a little that’s all, he tutored her a bit I think. Besides he was way too old for Robyn,” the pale-eyed youth reassured the burly boy.
Kento crossed his arms over his chest, “How old was he?”
“Well, I was 16 when I met Robyn, so he was 24, and that was 2 years ago,” the girl explained.
“And that would make you, how old?” Kento asked.
“That would make her…18, considering when her birthday is,” the red head interrupted.
“And her birthday is when?” Rowen piped in.
“It’s December 26th,” Robyn answered for her friend.
Suddenly the young Nightling spoke up, “Anyway, Robyn? Do you think you can show me around tomorrow?”
“Sure, the guys will come too.”
The group thought for a moment, “All right,” they agreed.
“Great!” Megan chirped contently.
“Good, see you guys tomorrow,” all the teens, except Robyn, Megan and Cye, said as they went out the door.
“Megan?” Cye tested.
The brunette looked at her new friend, “Yes?”
“Do you need any help with your luggage?” the holder of torrent asked politely.
“Nah, I’m OK,” the girl replied as she picked up her big bag and carried it to her room with Robyn’s help.
***
“Wow! It is just like back home!” Megan gasped with amazement.
“Well we know that she’s Robyn’s friend,” Rowen observed.
“Uh…guys? Where’d they go?” Kento inquired of his friends.
“Who?” Cye asked, a little confused.
The guys looked around and noticed that both of the girls were gone. There was no sign of them, not even a hair. Then Sage heard laughter from a bookstore. He walked over to the store and saw Robyn, the guys followed. Kento sat next to the red head and picked up a magazine. Soon both were laughing hysterically at some magazines titled: MAD. Suddenly Ryo noticed that the blue eyed girl was nowhere to be seen, “Uh…Robyn? Where’s Megan?”
Robyn stopped for a moment to look at the raven headed teen, “She was here a minute ago, I bet she’s looking at books, she was always a nut for them.”
“Oh.”
***
“What are you looking at?” the green eyed boy asked the brunette, who was standing in the middle of the aisle, book in hand.
The girl jumped slightly at the sudden noise, “Um, a book about dragons.”
The young Nightling glimpsed at who had spoken to her. Cye walked up and looked at the cover.
“Is it good?” Cye queried.
“Well, the first two were great so this one should be too,” the perceptive youth remarked, giving him a confident smile. Cye stared at her for a moment, a slight pink hue decorating his cheeks..
Cye then noticed the title of the book she held, “The Greater Kindred?”
“Yep, the previous books were so good,” Megan explained, happy to talk about something she loved. Cye looked at her face, her eyes sparkled; her lips were curled into a smile. He couldn’t help but smile at her. Before they knew it, the pair was flirting outrageously.
“So Megan, what High School did you go to in Florida?” Cye questioned.
“Well, if you must know, I went to South Beach High School, in Miami,” the brunette answered.
“Oh, what did you do when you didn’t have school?” the English teen inquired.
“Well, we usually went to the beach, or the mall, or the movies,” the girl trailed off.
“Movies? What kind of movies, and who is we?” the Japanese youth queried.
“Well, we is my friend Sara and a couple others, and movies we saw were Matrix 2, X-men, Jurrasic Park 3, Terminator 3. You know, the ‘manly’ movies and some romantic comedies, such as, Someone Like You,” the pale-eyed teen informed her friend.
“Oh, so maybe we, all of us, can go see a movie tomorrow, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, how ‘bout it?” Cye asked placidly.
“Well, OK, but only if the others want to,” the girl replied walking back to join the group, leaving Cye confused. He followed after her.
***
A moment later the mob was walking around the mall, enjoying the exercise. After a minute the guys found the arcade, while the girls found the various clothes, jewelry and craft shops.
“Hey Meg, how bout this?” Robyn tested, holding up a deep purple tank top, with a yellow star in the front. It was a spaghetti string top that hugged the form of its wearer; the red head held the matching jeans up as well. They were blue with little yellow stars on the pockets.
“It looks great, let me get a better look, step back,” Megan instructed
The red head did as told.
“Back, 2 big steps,” the brunette informed her.
Again Robyn did what she was told, getting annoyed, “Now what?”
The young Nightling walked up to her friend, looked her in the eyes and, pushed Robyn into the fitting room, closing the door behind her.
“MEGAN, YOU’RE SO…MEAN!” the green-eyed girl yelled.
“Oh, just put on the clothes!” the brunette called back. Robyn growled and started to undress.
A minute later, the red head walked out wearing what she had been tricked into putting on.
“You look perfect, you just need the right piece of jewelry to make it perfect,” the brunette critiqued. Robyn smiled; anger fading when she noticed her blue-eyed comrade, Robyn walked over to see what she was doing. The brunette was digging through a row of multicolored tank tops, finally stopping at an indigo, muscle shirt-looking top. Robyn then noticed the pale blue, spaghetti string tank top her companion was also holding.
“I like the pale one,” the emerald eyed girl commented.
Megan smiled, “Well I like both.”
After they paid for their clothes Megan dragged her friend to all the bathing suit shops, then jewelry shops until they couldn’t shop anymore. They finally had to return to the arcade to get the guys. When they got there Rowen and Cye were in the middle of a one on one Mortal Combat fight, while Sage and Ryo battled on Bloody Roar.
“Hey Kento, ready to go?” Robyn questioned her friend.
“Yep, as soon as they’re done,” he returned cheerfully.
Megan let out a sigh of relief, “Good, I get tired after shopping.”
“I bet, especially with all those bags right?” Rowen chided happily, he had obviously won the Mortal combat game. The brunette flashed him a smile, “Yep, I just love shopping, don’t you?”
“Well…I,” the blue haired teen stuttered a bit, usually he could come up with something, but this time he drew a blank. Megan ignored the stumped adolescent and walked over to where Ryo and Sage were. The pale-eyed girl watched them curiously. She remembered the game, she had rented it for her play station one time, it was a great game.
“Hey, can I play winner?” both of the guys stopped their game and looked at her.
Ryo looked at Sage, then at the others, “Well, I guess its ok.”
The curious young woman watched as Yugo, the wolf, beat Long, the tiger. Sage backed up to let her play.
“Meg, let me explain the story line. The characters are kind of like mutants; they’re humans who can turn into humanoid animal fighting machines. So its a lot like mortal combat,” Ryo informed the rookie.
“Alright,” she reassured.
Ryo had picked Yugo, the wolf, as his character fighter. Megan scanned over the various pictures and soon found one to her liking, Bayurku, the Mole. The screen shown the words ‘Ready, FIGHT’ to prepare the participants. Suddenly the screen came alive; Megan had backed away and immediately turned animal. The mole was an intimidating sight, claws has big as its head and thin, yet muscular, legs. Ryo was impressed by this move, but he turned into an animal too, a werewolf. Both images ran forward and met in the center of the screen. The mole jumped and turned upside down in the air, it then stuck its claws into the opponent’s shoulders. Then it spun in the air, causing the opponent to become human again. Ryo glared at the brunette beside him, she just smiled. In a few more moves both had turned human again. Megan was left with a young ninja; her tiger-eyed friend was stuck with a teen boxer. Both continued to fight until Ryo was Knocked Out. The girl turned to her friend, trying not to smile, but, as Ryo observed, was failing at the attempted.
“Ready to go?” Megan questioned.
“Yeah, let’s go eat,” Ryo smiled.
Robyn looked at her friends, “So Meg, ever play that game before?”
“Yep, I have a Play Station in my bags at home. I actually bought the game, its brand new,” the brunette explained.
“Ryo lost to a girl, “Kento teased enthusiastically.
“Well, yeah, but she played before,” the teen protested.
The guys just smiled at each other, all of them getting a comment in. Megan and Robyn walked a little ways ahead, ignoring the immature remarks. Megan had fallen silent and seemed to be enjoying the walk. Robyn couldn’t help but notice her friend’s relaxed expression, the last time the red head had seen the American girl, Megan had been timid, shy and quiet. But their had also been something else about the brunette that had made Robyn a bit sad. In America, the girl had always shied away from the green-eyed teen, like something about her scared Megan. But now the American was relaxed, out spoken and down right pleasant. Suddenly Robyn was aware of the pair of pale smoky blue eyes staring at her.
“Oops, sorry, I zoned out,” the teen clarified.
The brunette smiled, “Its ok, I zone out all the time.” The girls let silence slip in between them for an instant.
“Meg, what happened to you?” Robyn inquired of the brunette.
“What do you mean?” Megan asked, surprised by the question.
Robyn thought for a moment, “Well, you seem different now, in America you seemed afraid and shy.”
“Oh, well, people change, right?” the girl replied nervously.
The red head smiled, opened her mouth to ask another question but was interrupted by a loud noise. Both girls stopped walking and turned to face their friends. The guys were gazing at a newspaper; both of the teens looked at each other then at the guys. Robyn walked back to her companions, “Whats up?”
“Robyn look,” Cye whispered, shoving the paper into her hands.
The girl looked at the cover story; “Plane saved by blue light, guys, what is this?”
“We don’t know, but we’ll keep our eyes open,” Rowen assured her.
“But what if its…” the girl stopped in mid sentence.
“It’s probably not that,” Ryo insisted. Robyn nodded in acceptance. The red head walked back over to her female companion, reassuring her everything was O.K
***
After a few minutes the gang was at the restaurant; they had been seated in a booth close to the kitchen. Kento had disappeared after they had gotten their table. Megan sat in the middle of the booth, on her right was Robyn, then Rowen and a place was left for Kento. On her left was Sage, Cye, and Ryo. A few minutes after his disappearance Kento walked up, followed by a plump woman. Her face was round and friendly, Megan found her expression familiarly pleasant.
“Mom, meet Megan. She’s from America,” Kento introduced.
“Its nice to meet you Mrs. Rei Faun. I’ve been wanting to meet the mother of this kind and polite young man,” Megan flattered, “You have done a wonderful job raising your son, I thought perhaps his great personality traits had come from you. I suppose I was right.”
Robyn rolled her eyes while Kento and the others stared at their brunette friend.
“Please dear, call me Mama Faun, everyone does. And thank you for the compliment,” the friendly woman thanked. They smiled at each other, for a minute it looked like they were sharing an inside joke. Both stared at one another, smiles on their faces, the looked that way for so long it scared poor Kento, who was somewhat embarrassed. Soon their inside joke was worn out.
“Well, I’ll leave all of you to get your orders, and dear?” Mama Faun turned her gaze to Megan once more, “You don’t have to flatter me to get me to like you.”
Megan smiled and blushed slightly, “Yes Mama Faun.”
Finally the group was left to stare at their new member, she was looking over the menu carefully.
“Meg, I have never heard so much stupid and meaningless flattery in one sentence before,” Robyn commented.
The brunette just smiled, “Neither have I.”
***
“Megan, are you O.K., you ate so little at the restaurant?” Kento interrogated, a little worried.
The girl sighed, “I hate to tell you but…I don’t like Japanese or Chinese food that much. Rice and egg rolls are the things I’ll eat.”
Kento huffed, a little irritated, “So what do you like to eat?”
The brunette looked over her shoulder at the burly teen, “You really want to know?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Ok,” the Nightling took a deep breathe, “I like hotdogs, pizzas, hamburgers, corn-dogs, cheese enchiladas, tacos, marsh-mellows, chocolate, ice cream, chicken, turkey, bacon, sausage, pudding, spaghetti, meatballs, cookies, broccoli, apples, cantaloupe, honey-dew melon, and carrots.”
The girl took another breath, talking so much in one breath had hurt. Kento stared at his female comrade, confusion apparent on his round face. Everyone ignored Kento’s confusion and continued to walk. They wandered around for awhile, going around to various places. All of a sudden Robyn felt a weight on her shoulders. The red head looked back to see the tired face of her female friend. Megan had her arms crossed, resting on Robyn’s shoulders, her chin resting gently on her arms, eyes barely open.
“Tired?” Robyn asked the girl; her tone mixed with sarcasm and concern.
“Yeah,” was the only response.
“Do you mind getting off of me?” the green-eyed teen asked, getting annoyed by the laziness of her friend.
The brunette let out a soft sigh, “Alright.” The girl pulled herself from the comfortable position on Robyn’s shoulders. Megan started to lag behind the others slightly, finally her eyelids became too heavy, her eyes closed and soon sleep came upon her. Without warning the girl was pulled from sleep by a sudden pressure. Her eyes snapped open, she then noticed she was on the ground, lying on her back. She quickly sat up, yawning and stretching she noticed that her friends were staring at her.
“Man, you don’t look to good,” Kento remarked.
Megan stood up and yawned again “I think I’ll take that as a insult,” she growled bitterly.
The grey-blue haired teen gave her a bitter glare, then looked at his friends. Cye looked at him then glanced at Megan, then stared at Kento again. The burly boy sighed and nodded. He walked over to the brunette girl; she looked at him curiously.
“Come on, I’ll give you a lift,” he said smiling.
They stopped walking; Kento crouched down so she could climb on his back. After a moment the girl had situated herself on Kento’s back. Sleep consumed her once more and this time it was not interrupted. The bearer of hardrock glanced at his British friend. Cye smiled and continued to walk. The group was soon split up so that only Cye, Robyn, Kento, and the fatigued Megan were left. Soon they came to Cye’s house; they opened the door, allowing Kento to go first. He walked towards the room that now belonged to Megan, Robyn followed. He carefully slipped the brunette from his back onto her bed. Robyn sighed, getting tired, she yanked the Nightling’s shoes off then left the room with Kento.
***
Sage stretched, it was 11:30pm, night had settled on Toyama and he was ready to sleep. As the blonde crawled into bed a strange, uneasy feeling rose inside him. Ignoring it Sage relaxed and let himself fall to sleep.
“Sage…” a harmonious voice sang.
“Huh? What?” Sage sat up, “Where am I?”
The blonde sat upon a small grassy hill by a pond. Huge green trees canopied the sky, letting only some light through. Birds sang gentle spring songs as a breeze blew through. Wherever this is, it’s beautiful, the keeper of Halo thought.
“Sage,” the voice was as faint as a drop of water hitting the pond.
“Who’s there?” Sage called. Suddenly the forest went quiet. The birds stopped singing and the air grew still. Sage then noticed a single ray of light touching a silvery figure across the pond. The creature was a shining beacon, a woman dressed in a long white robe. Her long pearly white hair pranced around her face. Sage tried to look at her face but a light shone from it so bright it almost blinded him. With a graceful movement the lady pulled the hood of her robe over her head, covering whatever the light came from. The blonde looked at the figure, the shadow of the hood hid her eyes but also covered the blinding light, for that Sage was thankful. The woman raised her head to stare at him, but still her eyes could not be seen.
“Who are you?” Halo’s keeper asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I am the old and new…the loved, the hated. The melody and the harmony…I am the innocence,” he heard the response, but it seemed to come from everywhere. It echoed and sang from the lake, the trees, the sky and the light. But it was, nevertheless, beautiful.
“Where am I?” the blonde questioned.
Again the voice came from the forest, “You are in the Sanctuary.”
“Why am I here?”
The cloaked figure did not answer, simply held up a card. Without a one movement the card flew to Sage. He took the card and looked at it, reading the title he became confused, “The devil card? A tarot card? What it this for?”
The ronin looked back to the woman by the lake.
“You will know when it comes,” with that the shining figure left, leaving only white feather in her place.
“Hey…Wait!”
***
“Morning Kento,” the British youth chirped.
“Morning,” Kento replied, “What’s for breakfast?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Cye answered.
“But…then who’s cooking?” the burly teen questioned.
The pair looked into the kitchen; they gasped when they saw the young brunette girl infront of the stove. Robyn was sitting at the table, eating pancakes.
“Megan?” Cye tested.
The girl looked over her shoulder at the British teen, “Yes?”
“What are you doing?” he queried.
The girl spun gracefully around holding two plates, one with chocolate chip pancakes and the other with blueberry pancakes, “Making breakfast.”
“Oh,” was Cye’s only response, before Kento rushed past him, mouth drooling. Megan quickly stepped out of the way, holding the plates above her head.
“Kento, careful, the stove is still hot,” the young Nightling growled.
She let Kento take the plate of chocolate chip pancakes from her. He walked over to the table and sat down, quickly pouring maple syrup on his meal. Megan sighed and handed the other plate of pancakes to her English friend.
“Wow, these are really good, almost better than Cye’s!” the burly teen exclaimed.
“Thanks Kento, this is the only way I could think of to thank you for helping me last night,” Megan clarified.
“It was no problem at all, your not that heavy,” Kento responded without thinking, suddenly realizing who he was talking to, “I mean, um…”
“Its O.K., I know what you mean,” the pale-eyed girl replied quickly, smiling. She got a plate of pancakes and sat next to Robyn.
“So what are we going to do today?” Megan asked her hosts.
“Well, after we eat we can go to the…uh,” Robyn faltered.
“How bout the movies?” Cye suggested.
“That would be great! But how bout next week end?” the Nightling exclaimed.
“Then after we can go to a Kento’s,” Robyn interrupted.
“That would be nice,” the brunette girl thought aloud.
“Yeah, Mama Faun can have a B.B.Q.,” Robyn remarked.
“Can I bring my own food?” Megan asked.
“Nah, I’ll ask Ma to cook you up some hamburgers or something,” the Holder of Hardrock replied.