Vamps and Ronins

Chapter Sixteen: Not Your Typical Sleepover

Written by: Tiasha

~

Comin' down the world turned over

And angels fall without you there

And I go on as you get colder

Or are you someone's prayer?

You know the lies they always told you

And the love you never knew

What's the things they never showed you

That swallow the light from the sun inside your room, yeah

[…]

Comin' down the years turn over

And angels fall without you there

And I'll go on and I'll bring you home and

All because I'm

All because I'm

And I'll become

What you became to me

Goo Goo Dolls, “Black Balloon”

~

Sage looked up at the phone and then at the clock before frowning, blinking sleep from his eyes. School was finally out, graduation had gone smoothly and now all he really wanted to do was try and get some sleep. Especially since sleeping during the day seemed to be the only way to keep that nightmare from coming back…and growing worse. So if it was Rowen, the bearer of Strata was due for an earful.

Picking up the phone, Sage prepared himself to give his friend a nice lecture about waking people from naps. However, he was not prepared for it being a different friend on the line… More precisely, he was surprised when he found it to be Cye calling him.

“Have you seen Robyn?” the bearer of Torrent asked. Sage frowned as a sense of dread knotted itself in the pit of his stomach. Didn’t Robyn know better than to go running off by now?

“No, I haven’t,” Sage said, waiting for a moment for Cye to say something. When his friend continued to be silent, he spoke again. “Why?”

“She went over to a friend’s house to help baby-sit and I thought maybe she’d called one of you guys.”

“She went out today?”

“No, last night. It was an all-nighter and that’s why she went to help her friend.”

“And she hasn’t come back yet?”

“No, that’s why I called. I thought she might have gone over to Ryo’s or Rowen’s to get some sleep, but they haven’t seen her either.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Same here,” Cye answered, worry evident in his tone.

“I’ll go take a look downtown. My mom wanted me to go out and get some things today anyway.”

“Thanks Sage. I appreciate it.”

Sage placed the phone back in its cradle and glanced out the kitchen window. Where was she? Was she hurt? Why hadn’t she called Cye yet? Had she been kidnapped again? Was that why she hadn’t called him? Didn’t she realize it wasn’t safe for her to be out by herself anymore?!

Pulling himself from his thoughts, he quickly put on his shoes and grabbed the money on the counter that his mother had left for him. The fleeting thought of going and dragging Rowen with him made him pause for a moment, but Sage shook his head as he closed and locked the front door behind him. His younger sister was at the dojo with their father today since it was summer break and his mother was at the hospital, working her usual dayshift.

Cursing for having left his cell-phone back inside the house, Sage decided to leave it and raced towards downtown Toyama. Aside from getting the things he said he would, he was hoping to find Robyn safe and sound as well.

---

“Now remember, concentrate.”

“Hai, sensei-sama.”

The clouds began to thicken slowly, gradually darkening and blocking the sunlight as the minutes passed by. The tall blonde smiled before turning back to the young boy and praising him on his progress. “You’re doing much better Arain!”

A weak smile was all the boy could manage as he continued to concentrate.

“Now Arain, bring a storm that will make even that traitor think twice about harming our Empress,” the tall blonde whispered seriously, her red eyes narrowed as she looked out the glass door of the New Age store.

Arain nodded as his eyes literally clouded over and began to reflect the storm that was beginning to strengthen outside. That man would not be able to find Robyn now, not with a drenching rain pelting down on the city. He wouldn’t let that man harm his Princhipesa, not if he, Arain, could help it.

“Concentrate!” the blonde woman snapped with authority in her voice. “You’re letting your thoughts wander!”

Gritting his teeth, he refocused his attention on the storm outside. He would not fail his Princhipesa! He couldn’t! She reminded him too much of his mother to fail her now…

He waited for the moment when the storm would no longer resist his command and when he felt that tingle in the back of his mind, he slowly let go of the command. Moments later, thunder rolled and boomed over head and Arain glance out the store’s glass door, not the least surprised to see a light rain outside.

“Well done, Arain of Apollo,” his mentor praised, coming to stand next to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze before turning to go back to her inventory.

“I just hope it’s enough, sensei-sama,” he answered, still watching the rain.

“Hai, it will be…it will be…but it will only save her for today…but it will be enough…it will be…”

---

Sage cursed as he ran through the streets, trying to keep the groceries from being completely soaked through. Of all the luck! The sky had been so clear earlier! But now he was soaked through to the bone and he had not been able to find Robyn anywhere while he was in town. It all added up to a bad mood for him as he ran up the walk to his home.

Ignoring his hair that was plastered to the sides of his face, he unlocked the front door and slipped off his wet shoes. Making a face at the feeling of his wet socks and of the squishy sound they made, he walked over to the kitchen counter and dropped the groceries there. Not sure if he should start to put them away or change first, he stood in the kitchen for a moment, allowing the excess water to drip off his clothes and onto the tile floor of the kitchen.

Looking down at his shirt, he peeled the soaked fabric away from his skin, frowning. Perhaps he should change first… That thought was cut short by the sound of the doorbell and his frown deepened. Who was out in this weather?

The doorbell rang again as Sage made his way over to the front door and as he opened it, he readied himself to find a stranger wanting shelter. The person he found on the front step left him speechless and eyes wide as he took in the red hair that was matted to her forehead and neck. Rivulets of water flowed down the column of her neck to her short-sleeved top that was soaked through and her denim shorts, shoes and socks were in no better shape than the rest of her.

“Robyn?” he asked in confusion and surprise.

“I’m sorry…I-I didn’t know where else to go. I—I—”

He shook his head and moved aside to let her into the house. He watched as she meekly thanked him and hovered near the front door once he had closed it, as if ready to run back outside into the rain if need be. Didn’t she realize that that was a cold, drenching rain, despite that it was summer? There was no way he was going to let her run back out into that!

“What happened? Cye called earlier, asking if I had seen or heard from you. Where were you?” he asked in a calm tone. He watched as she slumped her shoulders, head hanging low so that strings of her red hair fell to obscure her wet face from his view.

“I went to see Arain and Yasalia after I had finished baby-sitting. Arain was so excited to show me this new trick of his… I—Jayzen—he—he happened to walk into the store while I was there… He seemed upset that I was there spending time with Arain and not him… He—he—he hit me and was about to swing at me again but Arain—he… Arain—he stopped him and I ran… I—I—” she trailed off, not daring to look up at him.

Her whole body was shaking and her voice was so small and unsure that Sage didn’t want to think of what could have happened had the kid not stepped in. He could understand her need to see the boy; besides having been the guardian of the armor, she could understand what the boy had gone through. Both had had abusive parents and for Robyn, it struck her deeply that this boy was trusting her, a complete stranger in a foreign country.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now,” he said calmly, watching as she slowly nodded. After a moment, he watched her head snap up to look up at him as he asked in confusion “Why me though? Rowen’s place is closer to town.”

“I know, but no one was there, he wasn’t home…besides, you’re probably the only one who wouldn’t immediately run out and kill him. All the others have hated me spending time with Jayzen from the start, and I’m not exactly in the mood to hear the ‘I told you so’ lecture from any of them.”

With her looking straight at him, Sage could see the first signs of a bruise forming on her cheek. Fists clenching at his sides, he turned to head deeper into the house towards the kitchen, muttering “Don’t be so sure” under his breath. When she didn’t follow, he frowned at her, knowing that she was staying where she was not because she had heard him, but because she was still nervous from the earlier confrontation with Jayzen and didn’t really know what to do. “You’re not going back out in that, so come in.”

Her figure came in rather reluctantly, but he could see the curiosity burning in her eyes as she looked around the house. That’s right, she had never been here before, and he mused over her curiosity, realizing that the only places she had been inside were the other’s homes. This was new territory for her…

“Have you eaten yet?” he asked, watching her shake her head as she looked at the living room that was next to the kitchen. “What do you want?”

She looked at him in surprise and he raised a brow at her look. Did she expect him to starve her? For the love of Anubis! He knew how to be a gracious host! He had been raised as a gentleman, and starving your guest was one of the major ‘don’t’s’ in being a gentleman and a good host.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” she whispered, looking down at her feet. He heaved a frustrated sigh as he left the kitchen, heading towards his room. While he would prefer not to, he knew he would need to offer her a warm shower or dry clothes at least. She’d catch a cold if she stayed in those wet clothes and Cye would have his head for not having taken care of her when no one else was able to. The last time she had gotten sick…she had missed so much school and Cye was going out of his mind with the fact that he wasn’t really able to help her…

He shook his head, quickly shrugging out of his wet clothes and dumping them into a wet pile in the clothes hamper. He then changed into some drier clothes before grabbing his bathrobe and heading back towards the kitchen. His bare feet were silent on the carpeted floor as he approached her.

“The bathroom is the second door on the left,” he said in an uninterested manner, handing her his bathrobe as he spoke. She looked at him again in surprise, but he ignored it and turned back to the kitchen. He began to unpack the groceries that had bought earlier at his mother’s request.

“I’ll be fine waiting it out,” she said, moving to hand him back his robe.

He didn’t bother to pause or turn around as he spoke to her. “No, you won’t. Go and shower.” His eyes narrowed when he felt the air around them grow tense for a moment as she debated whether to challenge him or not. The air settled again as she docilely took orders and left the kitchen. She ‘hmphed’ as she left, letting him know her displeasure about it, and he heard her footsteps pad gently down the hallway before he heard a door shut.

That was new… Robyn had never been able to cause the air to be tangible with tension before… It was probably due to that creature being inside of her. Mariko had explained that Robyn would be able to manipulate its power without even realizing it…

Sighing, he picked up the phone and dialed Cye’s number.

“Mouri residence,” he heard the young man answer and he sighed again, looking up at the ceiling.

“It’s Sage. I found her.”

“Is she all right? What happened?”

“She’s fine. She went to visit that Italian kid at the store. By the time she was heading back, she got caught in the storm and was closest to me, that and Rowen wasn’t home. She’ll stay here until it lightens up.”

“Good idea, it’s really bad out.”

Sage looked outside the kitchen window, watching the storm rage on while lightening flashed in the distance. Something about this storm just wasn’t right though… There had been nothing about it in any weather predictions this morning and it had descended upon the city so quickly…

“It doesn’t feel like a normal storm though,” Cye continued and Sage nodded, though his friend wouldn’t know.

“Yeah, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel evil or threatening…” Sage commented, watching lightening flash across the sky again.

“You’re okay with Robyn being there until the storm lightens up?”

Sage frowned, “Have a little faith. I wouldn’t send anyone out in that.”

“All right then. Look, I think the power’s about to cut out here. Thanks again, I owe you one,” Cye said and Sage heard a continuous beep that told him the connection had been lost.

“Was that Cye?”

Sage glanced over his shoulder before placing the phone back in its cradle. He then nodded and leaned against the countertop, looking out at the storm. He had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach; something was taunting him in the back of his mind. ‘I know where she is…’ it seemed to say, ‘You can keep her for now…but she’ll be mine soon enough…you can’t keep her from me forever…’

He looked over his shoulder at the girl who stood in his royal blue, fuzzy bathrobe. It went to her ankles on her and she held her wet clothes in her arms as her eyes silently asked him where she should put them. It was hard to tell if she had taken a shower or not, since her hair had been damp before and he wasn’t about to push the issue. At least now he could get her clothes warm and dry in the drier, without her catching a cold.

“Let’s see if the power will last long enough for these to dry,” he said, moving to take the wet clothes and put them in the dryer. She mumbled a ‘thank you’ as she stood by the kitchen, hands clasped in front of her. She was still standing like that when he came back from the laundry room; her eyes were fixated on the tiles in front of her feet, allowing her damp hair to curtain her face from view. “What do you want to eat?” he again asked her.

“I’m fine, but…what did you tell Cye?”

“What you told me.” He noted the slightly fearful look she gave him after he said this, so he went on to explain. “You were visiting the kid and was on your way back when the storm came.”

She visibly relaxed and smiled, “Wow, and you didn’t even have to lie to him.”

“I don’t lie.”

She frowned at him, “Maybe not but…”

He gave her a look that encouraged her to continue. He was somewhat curious to see where she would be taking this conversation.

“You didn’t tell us about those nightmares before…and you’re not telling us about them again...”

He glared at her, “Mariko told you, didn’t she.”

“Mariko knows? I didn’t know that Mariko also knew…I wonder why she didn’t mention anything…” Robyn said as she gave him a confused look.

Sage’s frown deepened. If Mariko had not told her, then how did Robyn know about the nightmares? How had she found out? He thought he had been hiding his fatigue better than last time… She was looking at him in a thoughtful manner and he felt uncomfortable, shifting and moving to hide his discomfort by putting the groceries away.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” she asked him softly.

“It’s mine to deal with…”

“Sure, but why?” she again asked him. “We might be able to help…”

He inwardly smiled at her determination, “It’s not a big deal, really.”

She watched him carefully for a moment before slowly nodding. She then quietly ventured, “Are they really that scary?”

He stood there looking at her for what had to have been the longest minute in his life before he hesitantly answered her. “Yes.”

“Do you want to talk about it? It helped last time, right? Talking to Rowen about the nightmares had helped, right?”

He slowly nodded, “I’ll talk about it when I’m ready…”

She nodded, almost as if she was pleased with herself that she had gotten him to agree, but he didn’t think he’d ever be able to speak of the nightmares this time. It was almost laughable about how embarrassed he was of the nightmares involving her, and knowing Rowen, he would laugh about it for a moment before taking the situation seriously. However, it annoyed Sage that he could not shake the nightmares and that was only because the victim of the nightmares was sitting in front of him, smiling at him as if there was nothing to be afraid of. He couldn’t speak of how worried he was nor that he was afraid for her. There were so many dangers out there and yet there she was smiling as if nothing was trying to harm her. But there was…

Another thought dawned on him; “How did you know about the nightmares?”

Robyn blinked, clearly not having expected that question to be asked of her. She then looked away from him, her eyes almost introspective. “Mariko says that because of what happened with…Totoyami—that I can now sense things that most people can’t—see things that people can’t…”

She glanced back at him and he wondered if she was afraid that they would think her crazy with all that she was saying. Well, any normal person would think she was crazy if she began talking about such things…but them? They had fought Talpa, had traveled to the Nether Realm and with everything else that had happened so far, they were anything but strangers to the paranormal and magick department.

“Did you know that there’s a creature that creates our dreams?”

After a few seconds of silence he spoke; “So you’re saying that you’ve spoken to this thing?”

“Her—I’ve spoken to her. She said something was blocking her from one of you guys again. It was the again that tipped me off that it must have been you. You were the only one that I knew of that had had nightmares from an outside source before.”

“I see…did she say how to fix the problem?”

“No…she said she couldn’t do it, she had tried everything she could but that she wasn’t strong enough… But she also said that her powers were nothing compared to the ‘Mother Empress.’ Like I can really figure any of this out on my own…” she said, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to her left foot, a gesture of annoyance and exasperation. Silence then settled over the kitchen again and Sage thought it safe to change the subject.

“Can we now discuss lunch?” he asked lightly, smirking as she stuck her tongue out at him in annoyance. She then sighed and moved to sit down at the kitchen table, gazing out the window. He watched her profile for a moment, trying desperately to quell that uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. She was safe for now…but speaking of the nightmares had not diminished that uneasy feeling the slightest bit. So much was happening to her and they had barely saved her the past couple of times… What if they didn’t make it there in time to save her when something happened again?

“Peanut butter sandwich is fine for me…if it’s not too much trouble,” she answered after a moment of thought. He nodded, knowing that for now, she was safe. As long as one of them stayed near her, she was safe…

“It’s no trouble.”

---

Sage narrowed his eyes as he looked at the card he had just grabbed from the pile. Even though ‘Crazy Eights’ was a simple game, Robyn seemed especially good at it. He glanced at the redhead across from him, sitting on the floor. She was fighting to keep an impassive face but her eyes were alight with happiness and he knew that she had a good hand.

He then placed the 3 of Hearts on top of the Queen of Hearts, watching as she immediately placed the 3 of Spades on top of his card. Damn, she had two cards left to his five… He was going to lose this round…

“Sage, why do you only play racing games? Like when we’re at Kento’s or in the arcade?” Robyn suddenly asked.

He glanced at her again as he placed the King of Spades on top of the 3 of Spades before answering. “My father used to take me to the race track when I was younger. When I was fourteen I started racing but my mom wasn’t too happy about it. So eventually I stopped going all together.”

She placed the King of Diamonds down on the pile; “Really? How long has it been since you’ve gone?”

“A year or so.”

Robyn looked thoughtful as he went to pick up a card and then placed it on top of her King of Diamonds. It was an eight and that meant… “Change to clubs,” he said.

A triumphant grin spread across her face as she slapped down her card. It was a damn eight! And it was her last card too… He had lost…

“Not too good at this, huh?” she teased him lightly. Shrugging his shoulders, he picked up the cards and began to shuffle them. “Do you want to do something else?” she asked quietly after a moment.

He raised a brow at her question, “Like what? I’m open for suggestions.”

The power had gone out some time ago and they had been entertaining themselves with a deck of playing cards since then. He watched her shrug her shoulders, nibbling on her lower lip as she did so, obviously in thought. “Got any board games?”

“Some old ones from when my sisters and I were younger.”

“Like what?”

He motioned towards the small curio chest near the television set. “See for yourself,” he said with a slight shrug and watched as she pushed herself off the couch and made her way over to the chest. She was wearing a pair of his sister’s lounge pants and a large t-shirt that looked somewhat baggy on her.

Robyn pulled the legs of the pants up slightly as she knelt down in front of the curio chest and undid the latches. Pushing it open she found at least a dozen board games that ranged from being suitable for young toddlers to adults. There was an old game of ‘Battleship Galacitca,’ which must have belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Date since it was certainly not something from Robyn and Sage’s generation.

She shifted a few game boxes around to see what else she could find but looked up at Sage when he spoke.

“Mom tends to be a bit of a pack-rat when it comes to stuff like that. Anything else and she doesn’t hesitate to get rid of it.”

Robyn smiled and teased, “Some of this stuff is probably a collector’s item by now.”

The corner of his mouth ticked upwards as he agreed with her and she quickly turned back to the chest as she felt her cheeks grow warm. Good grief! She had never been like this before! First, she had blushed when Shadow had knocked her into him and he’d caught her a week or so ago, which was nothing to get all flustered about since she was a little clumsy at times anyway… Okay, so that had been a pretty compromising position, one of which she rarely found herself in with Sage as her ‘rescuer’…

Then she had gotten all flustered when he’d handed her his bathrobe (though he probably hadn’t notices) and told her to go change and take a shower… Then there had been the task of helping him put the groceries away and her losing her balance on the step ladder earlier… And not to mention she had been admiring his rear when she had first arrived and had not realized it until he had called for her to come in and felt her cheeks grow warm at that realization…

It was embarrassing when one realized how often they could get flustered when one was alone with an attractive person of the opposite sex…and she knew from experience that it was quite embarrassing, as well as annoying. She had never been like this before, not with any of the others or anyone from the States! So why was she all of sudden acting like a little school girl with a major crush? Besides, Sage wasn’t interested in her that way…at least she didn’t think so…

‘And why would he be, pet? You’re carrying an evil which he has sworn to protect this world from. How can he even stand to look at you?’ a dark, sinister voice taunted her. Shaking her head to dispel the voice, she took a silent, deep breath and placed her focus on the task of finding something entertaining. A soft, dark chuckle was all she heard of Totoyami before she forced his presence from her mind. He was getting better at that trick, she realized, and that meant that she would need to speak to Mariko soon. She had begged the older woman not to mention anything of the progression of Totoyami to the guys because graduation had been coming up. Well, that had long since passed and it seemed like she could no longer keep the guys uninformed of the progression…

“Find anything?” Sage’s voice asked, effectively drawing her out of her thoughts. Glancing around the curio chest, she smiled and looked over shoulder at the blond young man watching her with a somewhat amused expression. She already had a feeling that he would say ‘no’ to her first suggestion, but she wanted to see his reaction anyway.

“Hungry Hungry Hippos?” she asked in a hopeful tone. He narrowed his eyes at her and she tried to suppress the giggles that were bubbling to get out.

“Absolutely not. I refuse to play that.”

“Aww, come on Sage! It’ll be fun!”

“I never liked that game as a child and that opinion has not changed.”

“So that’s a no?”

“Correct.”

“Darn…”

He smirked at her and she grinned back, laughing as she looked back inside the curio chest. “Let’s see…Scrabble, Connect Four, Sorry!, Candyland, Shoots and Ladders-ooh! Let’s play that!” she happily declared, digging out the box. As she turned back to the couch and placed the game on the coffee table in front of it, she noticed that slight smile on Sage’s face. It seemed to be one of contentment… ‘Odd,’ she thought to herself. ‘Unless…nah, he doesn’t like hanging around me…does he? Guess I’ll find out.’

They had been playing for at least ten minutes when thunder rolled loudly overhead. Robyn watched Sage glance out the window, a frown on his face and she turned her gaze in the same direction. She worried her lower lip as she took a deep breath.

“It’s not a normal storm you know…” she whispered, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked at her sharply in surprise, curiosity and suspicion.

“How do you know—”

“Totoyami, remember? That and this is what Arain had wanted to show me. He can manipulate the weather, for the most part…”

“Obviously he tried a bit too hard.”

“He’s just trying to help.”

Sage remained silent, leaning back against the couch with his arms crossed. “I don’t trust him,” he finally said. Robyn blinked at him in surprise. He didn’t trust a little boy? Arain hadn’t done anything that she could think of that would cause anyone to not trust him.

Sage seemed to understand her surprise for he then corrected himself. “Jayzen. Something about his aura unnerves me as well as the others. And this little stunt he pulled today doesn’t help any, either.”

She looked down at her hands, which lay fisted together in her lap. She knew he was right, had known since the moment Jayzen had gotten angry and hit her today. But he had seemed so nice and caring towards her that she had looked past her friends’ concern and warnings. She had wanted to believe that the guy had liked her for who she was, had really liked a plain, skinny little nobody…

“I know,” she whispered, not looking at Sage. At least he wasn’t blowing the whole thing out of proportion like the rest of the guys would when they found out. Oh she had no doubt that Joshua would tell them because Yasalia would have told the soul-gaki, and Cye would never let her out of the house again… Well, maybe the bearer of Torrent wouldn’t do something that drastic.

“It’s getting late,” Sage said after a few moments of silence and Robyn looked up at him in surprise. She was going to be sleeping here? At Sage’s house? Oh God, that sounded way too scandalous when she thought about it…

“I’ll get you some blankets so you can sleep on the couch. I’m guessing that dad and Satsuki are trying to wait the storm out at the dojo,” Sage explained as he pushed himself off of the couch and headed towards the hallway and foyer of the house. She watched him go, blinking as she did so and wondered if this really was a good idea. She would be able to make it to the metro and home with minimal problems…

‘But,’ she realized as Sage reentered the living room, arms bundled with blankets and a pillow, ‘He won’t let me out of the house with the storm still going.’ She thanked him, taking the pillow and blankets from him and setting them on the couch. She then moved to clean up the board game that had been abandoned only moments beforehand, asking Sage if his mother was staying at the hospital.

“More than likely. People still try to drive out in this weather as if it were clear skies and sunny,” he answered, helping her put away the board game. Robyn turned her attention to the small oil lamp on the coffee table before shifting her gaze at Sage.

“Do you need the lamp to get upstairs?” she asked, watching as he shook his head.

Her brow furrowed at his negative reply. “Are you sure?” she ventured.

“I can see well enough,” was he said before moving to leave the room.

“Good night, and Sage,” she called, watching as he paused to raise a brow inquiringly at her. “Thank you,” she continued softly.

“It’s not a problem.” And with that, she heard him move up the staircase to the second floor, pausing briefly at the front door, to check the lock was her guess.

A moment later, Robyn found herself alone in the living of the Date residence, the oil lamp already extinguished. It was a bit foreign to her, but not disturbingly so she realized as she crawled under a thin quilt and curled up on the comfy couch. She had to have been dozing in light sleep for what had to be only a few moments when something awoke her, causing her to jerk up right into a sitting position.

Her breath came out in soft pants as she searched the room with large eyes, looking for something that would be out of the ordinary. When her breathing had slowed and steadied, she took off the glass covering of the oil lamp, grabbed the box of matches, quickly lit one and then lit the lamp. After placing the glass covering over it, she pushed the quilt away from her so as to not get tangled in it and quietly explored the downstairs floor. Glancing at the antique grandfather clock in the hallway as she passed it, Robyn realized that she had actually been dozing for twenty or so minutes. But she quickly turned her thoughts to the task at hand.

She could feel something off about the house but it was hard to say what exactly. After her search of the downstairs turned up fruitless, Robyn found herself at the bottom of the stairs, debating whether or not she should go upstairs, return to the couch or call up to Sage to see if he was awake or not. It would be highly embarrassing to go up and have him find her creeping about upstairs or to have her call out to him like some little child who had had a bad dream. But would he blame her if she was a little paranoid?

Biting her lower lip, Robyn closed her eyes and stretched out her senses, much like she had been secretly practicing with Mariko and Shadow. Her senses brushed across the downstairs floor and found nothing, just like her visual search had. As she tentatively reached upstairs she felt the slight familiarity of Sage’s aura…but something was wrong with it. It felt…muted…

Frowning, she opened her eyes and took one slow step up onto the staircase, senses still stretched upward towards the second floor. It was her second slow step up that she felt something change upstairs, a subdued presence flaring wildly as if in warning. That did it. That helped her make her decision.

With sure steps, Robyn softly strode upstairs and paused on the landing to close her eyes and sense out the presence, now having an idea of what she was looking for. The first few rooms were clear of any presence or aura whatsoever; that was, until her senses brushed against one room on the right side of the hallway. She turned the lamp down low, making the hallway even dimmer and Robyn softly gasped at what a difference that had made and at what she could now see.

Down the hall, poking out of a room on the right was a pair of glowing yellow eyes with red pupils. Those eyes belonged to a long muzzle that had its lips pulled back in a snarl to expose long, sharp canine teeth. Saliva was dripping from it jowls as it stared at her; recognition seemed to flash in its eyes and it backed away, disappearing back into the room.

Heartbeat accelerating and breath quickening, Robyn swallowed her fear and moved down to the room the creature had disappeared into. She peeked into the room and glanced about, noting the creature that was crouched by the window, watching her warily. Sage was lying asleep in his bed, tossing and turning once in a while, brows furrowed and a frown on his lips. An expression one normally associated with a nightmare if the wearer was asleep.

Robyn turned her gaze towards the creature and frowned before stepping all the way into the room, pausing to place the oil lamp on Sage’s dresser. Her hand was trembling so badly out of fear that she was worried that she might drop it and start a fire. However, she was determined not to let this creature know how frightened she was of its massive form. Good god, why hadn’t she realized how large it was before?! Its mass rivaled White Blaze and Shadow! Swallowing nervously, she stopped in the middle of the room as the creature growled at her. It was certainly canine in nature and build but it was anything but canine in looks. Its fur was ratty and hung in tendrils off its body and its pointed ears looked as if it had been bitten through many times, holes apparent.

“What are you?” she whispered, not really wanting to awaken Sage but also out of fear as she stared at the creature. It felt similar to the creatures of nothingness, but only in aura; was it a doppelganger, perhaps?

The creature growled once more, making her tremble slightly and then it stopped. The creature ceased to growl, only staring at her. And then…it chuckled?!

‘You’re afraid…’ it taunted, the words echoing across her mind the way Yume’s did. Robyn stiffened at that, belatedly wondering if Totoyami was going to taunt her as well. Fortunately, it appeared that he was deep in sleep himself.

“Shouldn’t I be?” she asked cautiously. “There’s a monster in my friend’s room doing only God knows what.”

‘Dream-eater, bitch! Not monster! ‘Monster’ is what you pathetic human pups call me.’

Robyn blinked; “Dream-eater? You mean you eat dreams?”

It chuckled again. ‘I’m unimpressed with you, mortal. Highly unimpressed. And to think…a pathetic human like you is to bear a great evil to the realms. He’ll win without a doubt if you are to be his competition.’

She frowned at that. Competition? Was she to actually fight Totoyami? “What do you mean?”

‘Pathetic, absolutely pathetic. You do not even know the prophecies, and you’re in them.’

‘Prophecies?’ she asked herself, her thoughts racing. What was this creature talking about? Prophecies? She would have been told about them if there were any…wouldn’t she? ‘Oh man, why do I get the feeling I’ve been suckered?’

‘Now to be rid of you…’ the creature growled, crouching even lower to the ground. Robyn quickly backed up a few steps and glanced around her, looking for something to use to defend herself or at least keep the thing at bay.

“Sage,” she called somewhat loudly. “Sage, come on, wake up!”

‘He can’t hear you…he’s trapped in my nightmare…the fear and despair that rolls off of him because of it is so delicious,’ the creature laughed, lunging at her.

Robyn let out a startled scream and threw an arm up in a vain attempt to block the creature. She was easily knocked to ground and cried out in pain as those sharp teeth she had seen earlier, bit through the flesh, tissue and muscle of her forearm. She cried out again for Sage to wake up, knowing that there was no way she could beat the thing on her own. But the bearer of Halo only tossed and turned more, as if hearing her pleas for help were part of the nightmare he was trapped in.

Blinking back a wave of dizziness caused by the sharp pain in her arms, she moved her legs up underneath the creature and braced her feet up against its ribcage, pushing weakly against it in an attempt to move it off of her. She felt its sinister chuckle beneath her feet and fought the wave of panic it produced.

She didn’t know what to do—she didn’t know if she should continue to call out to Sage with the slim possibility of him escaping the nightmare—she didn’t know if she should call out for anyone and instead let the creature take her. If she did that, then Totoyami couldn’t be born, the world wouldn’t be threatened, and the guys wouldn’t have to fight him… They wouldn’t have to fight again because of her……

‘Giving up so soon? What a shame, I was hoping for more of a challenge. But I shouldn’t be surprised by your lack of stamina since you are just a pathetic human,’ the creature taunted again. Robyn refused to allow herself to be goaded because of it. ‘Maybe I’ll actually take him after I dispose of you…his death will last me for at least a week…’

That got her attention. She glared up at the creature that still held her arm in his jaws, not even realizing that she had been summoning energy as she growled herself in an inhuman manner. “Don’t even think about it,” she grounded out dangerously, bending her knees and then thrusting them into the creature’s ribcage once more. Only this time, the creature was thrown off of her and Robyn cried out in pain again as the teeth that had been embedded deep into her forearm tore through the flesh and muscle.

She briefly glanced at her arm before focusing back on the creature as it stood from where it had been thrown to the floor. It growled ominously at her, crouching again and Robyn readied herself to be thrown backwards again. She was and this time cried out when razor-sharp claws swiped across her stomach and abdomen, leaving long gashes. Looking at her midsection, Robyn gasped as she saw that while she was indeed bleeding, it was not gushing out everywhere, merely clotting and sealing the wounds. A quick glance around the room told her that no blood had touched the carpet of Sage’s room.

‘But how…?’ she asked herself, bewildered at her healing so rapidly.

‘Can’t have you dieing, remember? You die, I die with you. I do have some self-preservation instincts, you know.’

“Totoyami?” she whispered to herself in disbelief. That bastard was actually helping her?!

‘Don’t seem so surprised, mother. Like I said, if you die, I die as well.’

Any retort she was about to make came to a screeching halt as the creature lunged at her again, using her diverted attention as an opening. In a wave of panic, she threw her arms to cross in front of herself, closing her eyes as she waited for claws or teeth to sink into her. There was a bright flash from the other side of her eyelids and she heard a heavy thud. Peeking open one eye, Robyn quickly opened the other one as she stared at the creature that was wobbly trying to stand up from a few feet away. What had happened?

She then felt the thrum of power in the room and went rigid, waiting for some other being to rush out and attack her. But when nothing happened, she slowly probed the thrum of power and found it to be feminine and a balance of some sort… It was neutral… And then a sudden stray thought entered her mind; hadn’t Shadow said that her aura now felt somewhat neutral? Like a balance of both light and dark? Could it be that this was her power that was humming and swirling around her and the room?

“No way is this—”

‘So…you’re a strong bitch afterall…’ the creature rasped, injured from whatever she had done to him when she’d thrown her arms up and closed her eyes.

“Look, all I want is for you to leave my friends and I alone. Is that so much to ask?” she swallowed, praying that the creature would for some reason do exactly that without a fight.

‘Is that…an order……Dark Mother Empress?’

Robyn shivered at the title; jeez, Empress she could handle, Mother Empress barely, but Dark Mother Empress? Hell no! Never in a million years would she accept being called that without feeling her skin crawl!

‘Is it?’ the creature pressured and Robyn looked at it incredulously.

“Don’t tell me I simply had to say ‘I order you to leave me and my friends alone.’ If so, I’m going to be so ticked off.”

The creature seemed to almost smirk at her, ‘Hardly. You…hadn’t shown me…any reason to follow…orders… Now, however…you shown your right as… alpha female…’

“Alpha female? That’s right, canines have this thing of male and female leaders—wait! Do I have to be alpha female? Can’t you just…say I won or something and not give me that title as well?”

‘You are refusing…your leadership…and authority over me?’

Robyn glanced to her side at the body sprawled on the bed, trapped in a nightmare. “No, I guess not, since I have the feeling that if I did, you wouldn’t leave.”

‘Quite right… Now…to save him…you must enter his nightmare…’

“What?!” she squeaked, now looking at the yellow and red feral eyes in shock and disbelief.

‘You have to…bring him back…’

“How about I just kill you instead. I don’t have a problem ridding the world of one of you,” she said sarcastically with an undertone of contempt and displeasure.

‘You do…and he dies with me,’ the creature answered all too calmly.

‘Well, doesn’t that just suck? So sorry, pet, but I don’t think I can help you anymore. Saving him isn’t going to save me, so, have fun watching him suffer,’ Totoyami’s sinister laugh echoed in her mind as he drifted off out of reach.

“Damn you,” she growled, clenching her fists. “Damn the both you!” she spat out at the creature. The creature was not the least bit phased by her curse.

‘Astrea…will help you…reach him…’ the beast rasped out.

“Well, that is all well and good but how on earth do I reach this Astrea?” she asked and the moment the words left her mouth, she wished she hadn’t uttered them at all. The creature grinned at her as Robyn felt a familiar presence behind her. Turning around she came face to face with Yume, the Dream-bringer’s skin as pale as she remember and hair as dark too.

‘Empress…’ was all Yume whispered across her mind before Robyn felt the Dream-bringer’s cold fingers caress the side of her face. Blackness overwhelmed Robyn for a moment and when she blinked to clear it away, she found herself in a void full of mirrors.

“What—what happened? Where am I? Is anyone here?!” she called out, hearing her voice echoing eerily in the void. Silence greeted her, save for the echo of her voice and the faint tapping of…something. As the sound grew louder, Robyn could barely make out the form of another human; the tapping was from the person’s boots, Robyn realized and she could now make out the faint clacking of metal.

As the figure grew closer, she could make out a pair of beige trouser, brown boots and a deep purple tunic. A large ring of keys were tied to her trousers and were clanking softly against one of the person’s well-rounded hips. Well-rounded? Robyn did a double take and realized with chagrin that this person was indeed a woman. Her dark hair had been braided into cornrows all the way down to the middle of her back and as the woman continued to draw closer, Robyn could see that the woman’s ears were pointed.

In fact, the woman reminded Robyn greatly of Yume, only this woman’s skin was much darker than the pale, nearly non-existent complexion the Dream-bringer had. The woman stopped a few feet in front of her and Robyn found that the woman was also taller than her.

“What business do you have here?” the woman asked dispassionately.

Robyn blinked; “Business? I—I don’t know—my friend is stuck in a nightmare and—”

“Have you any experience in astral projecting?” the woman asked in an exasperated manner. Obviously she wasn’t pleased with having been disturbed from whatever she had been doing, for she was frowning and stared at Robyn with narrowed eyes.

Robyn stiffened at the tone. Jeez, just because she had no idea how she had gotten here didn’t mean that this woman was entitled to treat her like some little child who couldn’t comprehend anything. “Are you Astrea?” she asked the woman, noting the surprise on the woman’s face. The woman seemed to study her now, looking her over with a critical eye before frowning.

“How did come to know of my name?”

“Some creature—uh—a dream-eater said you could help me free a friend from his nightmare.”

“Are you the Dark Mother Empress the prophecies speak of?”

Again with the whole prophecies thing. She was definitely being kept in the dark about something. “Can you help me?

“You should be more concerned with whether I will help you or not.”

Robyn frowned and crossed her arms, “Oh this royally sucks. Where’s Mariko when I need her, Hell, I’ll even take Shadow or Yume—”

“Yume? Did you say Yume? The Weaver of Dreams?”

“I heard Dream-bringer but I guess it’s the same.”

“So,” the woman began, mimicking Robyn’s stance, “my sister helped you find me once she realized that this dream-eater was willing to give up his prey.”

Robyn stared at the woman in stunned silence before saying, “Okay, this is so totally beyond bizarre!”

The woman chuckled, “You are as my sister described.”

“You’re Yume’s sister?” Robyn asked somewhat doubtfully. When the woman nodded, Robyn heaved a tired sigh, not knowing how much time she had wasted already. “Will you please help me?”

The woman nodded. “Being courteous does pay off, ne? I am Astrea, the Watchman of the Planes.”

And before Robyn could understand the implication of the statement, Astrea had turned away from her. Robyn watched as the woman held up one arm, as if summoning something and in a moment a mirror flew towards them, coming to a halt in front of Astrea. Turning on its axis as it floated in mid-air, the mirror grew larger and larger until it was as tall as Astrea. The woman then turned to her, stepping aside and motioning to the mirror.

“Step through there and you will find the friend you speak of,” Astrea explained, bowing at Robyn when she thanked her. “It is always a pleasure to serve the Empress. Do call on me again should you need assistance.”

“Thanks…um, how do I get back?” Robyn asked hesitantly as she stepped up to the mirror and brushed her fingers across it. The surface rippled as if it were liquid.

“It will be obvious.”

Robyn gave the woman a doubtful look and Astrea chuckled. “It will, believe me,” she assured the redhead. Nodding, Robyn pushed against the surface of the glass and felt it give way, as if she were sticking her hand through a thick liquid, like corn syrup or molasses. Taking a deep breath, she stepped all the way through, absently wondering if this was stuff was going to get stuck in her hair.

Once free, she stumbled forward and fell to her knees, one hand flying to her hair, which was perfectly fine, and looked over her shoulder at the way she had just come. Nothing was there. A shiver ran down her spine as she looked around her. Everything was dark and the darkness swirled around her in a threatening manner. She shivered again before standing and moving forward, only to pause when pain-filled screams echoed in the darkness.

She rushed forward but came to a sudden halt a moment later as she saw Sage pounding on some invisible wall, yelling to be let through. The screams continued and Sage’s attempts grew more desperate. Robyn had never seen him like this…never had she seen him so—so—emotional. There was a final scream and she watched him drop to his knees in defeat as a charred skeleton appeared out of the blackness. It laid a few yards away from him, the grotesque form frozen in fear and terror.

“Robyn…I’m so sorry,” she heard him whisper. She blinked in shock. That skeleton was supposed to be her? This terrible nightmare that he had kept to himself and lost sleep over had been about her?!

‘No way! I didn’t think he actually cared that much about me…’ she thought to herself as she slowly approached his hunched form. Once behind him, she paused listening to his repeated apologies and laments.

“I’m so sorry…I should have run faster—or tried harder—did something…I—I’m so sorry…”

Robyn felt like crying. To see any of them in this much pain…it always brought tears to her eyes, knowing that they had suffered so much already…and would no doubt continue to suffer in the future because of their destiny. She could never really do anything for them and it pained her, knowing that all this time she was causing them pain in some manner. Not too long ago, it was the whole deal with Nago…and now this…

“Sage,” she said gently, lightly touching his shoulder. She watched him spin around, disbelief written clearly on his face as he stared at her. Slowly, he shook his head as he stood and hesitantly reached out towards her.

“How?”

“It’s okay, Sage. You and the others don’t have to take care of everything all the time.”

“But you—I couldn’t save you—and…”

She smiled at him, “You and the others saved me the day you all fought against Nago for me. The day you all blessed me with your friendship.”

He continued to stare at her in disbelief, “You—you did something, didn’t you…that’s why you’re here and this nightmare isn’t starting all over again…”

She nodded, wrapping her arms around him. “I should be the one apologizing, Sage. I should have done something about this when I first found out a week or so ago. I’m sorry for having put you through this nightmare for so long.”

She had felt his body stiffen the moment her arms had wrapped around him but the tension slowly ebbed away and he tentatively hugged her back. Robyn smiled when she somehow sensed him leaving, drifting back to consciousness. She let go of him and stepped backwards, watching him fade away.

“Robyn?” he called out, worry evident in his voice. It was a clear indicator that he was worried that this was turning into some other nightmare.

“It’s okay. It’ll be fine, I promise,” she assured him as his disappeared completely. Taking a deep breath, she looked around herself, sensing the darkness take a less threatening tone. However, when nothing appeared to lead her back, panic began to take in.

“Oh no—no—no—no, I am NOT stuck here in this strange limbo! I can’t be! Astrea! Help me! Please!” she cried out in fear. She then felt a presence behind her and before she could turn around, she was shoved forward so hard that she fell forward. Only she didn’t connect with the solid ground with a thud like she expected she would. It was more like she had slipped into her body and, with a knee-jerk reaction, opening her eyes to find herself on the floor.

She groggily sat up and looked around her. Sage was awake and sitting upright in his bed, glancing between her and the dream-eater, not knowing whether to jump out of bed and protect her or stay put should any action set the creature off. The creature was watching her intently, which explained Sage’s hesitance to move, its yellow and red eyes narrowed and fixated on her every move. As she stared back at it, it lips curled off its fangs in a grin.

“Seems you win Empress,” it said aloud, much to Robyn, and no doubt Sage’s surprise as well. Robyn then noticed that the creature had already healed itself. “I shall not disturb your pack any longer.” She watched as the creature turned towards the window and leapt at it, dissolving into thin air before it reached the panes of glass.

A few moments of silence passed before she heard sheets rustle and the springs of the mattress shift slightly. She shifted her gaze in the direction of the bed and found Sage sitting on the edge of the mattress, almost frowning at her. She hunched her shoulders instinctively at the accusatory look he was giving her.

“What?” she asked plaintively.

“Do not tell me that you fought that thing by yourself.”

“Okay…I won’t…”

He shook his head, knowing fully well that she had. “How did you...”

“Totoyami…if I die, he dies…”

Sage nodded, still frowning slightly. “And that—thing—what was it?”

“He said he was a dream-eater…I guess he feeds off the emotions of dreams…he said he enjoyed—” she found that she couldn’t finish her sentence. She stared up at him helplessly from where she sat on the floor, not sure what to do. Should she just leave and go back downstairs to the couch? Actually, couch sounded quite inviting.

“I’m so sorry Sage…” she began but stopped when he shook his head and sighed.

“This is the second time I’ve woken up after a nightmare, only to find that you are in the room, keeping watch over me,” he said, a small smile on his tired and weary face. She slowly smiled back at him.

“This mean you’re not upset?”

“No, I am upset. I’m upset that you did something so foolish. Did you really think you would stand a chance when you started facing off with that thing?”

“No, but—”

“You could have been killed.”

“And you would still be stuck in that nightmare watching me die over and over again!”

His eyes widened at her exclamation, not expecting her to have known about that. “You—you were really there? For you to actually—you astral projected yourself into my nightmare?!” he shouted angrily.

Robyn started in surprise at Sage’s show of anger. “I guess I did…” she said, uncertainty evident in her voice.

She watched his hands clench into fists as he tried to calm his anger and speak more calmly towards her, but it wasn’t much. “You could have killed yourself! No one should be out of their body for too long when inexperienced and you certainly qualify as inexperienced! Mariko doesn’t astral project often and she’s better at it than I am! What if you hadn’t gotten back? What if you had been stuck outside your body?”

“But I came back! Isn’t that enough?” What did he want from her? An apology for helping him? She’d sooner become best friends with Miniko than apologize.

Sage sighed and ran a hand through his tussled blond hair. “Just, promise not to try that again, ever.”

She smiled, nodding and silently sighing in relief, “I can do that.”

“Good.”

Robyn slowly stood, muscles bruised and aching as she examined her wounds. ‘Nearly healed…what a surprise…Totoyami, you bastard…’ she directed the thought to the evil thing that was now living in the same body with her but only received that faintest impression of a groggy ‘wha? Oh…go away…’

“Robyn…are you all right?”

She tore her gaze from her midriff to look up at Sage. He was eyeing her critically, more exactly the pink, puckered flesh that was healing on her arm and stomach. She nodded, giving him a lop-sided smile.

“Sorry I ruined your sister’s shirt and pants,” she apologized, feeling guilty. She doubted that the youngest Date sibling would be highly upset upon losing a pair of old lounge pants and plain t-shirt; but still, what were they going to tell her when she asked about them?

Sage shrugged in response, “Just don’t mention it to her. Otherwise, she’ll most likely never miss them.”

Robyn again nodded, smothering a yawn as exhaustion finally caught up to her. Why was her body feeling so heavy? She couldn’t be that tired. Had she used too much energy earlier? She hadn’t even known she had used any until she had felt that thrum of power earlier.

“Man, I better go back downstairs before I fall asleep standing up,” she muttered, turning to stumble out of Sage’s room into the hallway. She braced herself against the wall for a moment when the hallway began to swim.

“Robyn?” She heard him move to stand in the doorway of his room and she glanced back at him, wincing when it only served in making the room swim more.

“I don’t feel so good…” she answered softly, leaning against the hallway wall heavily.

“Last time you said that you got sick. Do you need the bathroom?”

“No…I’m just…tired…” The hallway swam again and Robyn noticed that the already dim hallway was growing even dimmer. Was she going to black out? Yeah, it’d figure. What was one more embarrassment added to all the others she’d had that afternoon?

She blinked, now realizing that Sage was guiding her down the hallway slowly. When had he moved to help her? And why were her cheeks growing warm?! Embarrassed, Robyn ducked her head away from Sage. However, that only served to worsen her dizziness.

“Sage,” she began, pulling them to a stop near the top of the stairs. She knew he was looking at her but she didn’t dare move her head, afraid that she’d blackout. “I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble.”

“It’s not a problem,” he replied in a slightly exasperated tone.

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay…’cause I think I’m about to pass out…” she said, starting to feel the oppressive lightheadedness sweep through her. A tell-tell sign that she would black out if she wasn’t careful.

“Don’t fight it then.”

She blinked and accidentally turned her head to look at him incredulously. That was all it took for the dizziness to overtake her. And so she slipped into unconsciousness, hardly aware that Sage had caught her limp form before she fell down the staircase.

---

Robyn blinked at the sunlight streaming through the open-blinds of the window caddy-corner of her. She whimpered, closing her eyes again and snuggling under the quilt further, trying to hide from the bright light. She felt so drained, despite having had a deep, peaceful night’s sleep.

The unfamiliar giggle had her eyes shooting open under the quilt. Since when did Cye giggle like that? Wait, since when did Cye giggle period?! When an unfamiliar baritone voice chastened the owner of the giggle, she realized that she wasn’t exactly in Kansas anymore.

Cautiously she poked her head out from under the quilt, blinking owlishly as she stared into a pair of pretty blue eyes. It took a full ten or so seconds for Robyn’s brain to register that someone was nearly nose to nose with her and when she did she gave a small shriek, which sounded more like a squawk really, and jerked backwards in surprise. That same giggle from earlier started up again.

Robyn shook her head to try and wake herself up a little more before she examined the person in front of her. It was a young girl, maybe about fifteen or so, with golden curls and pretty sky blue eyes. The girl had her hands clasped behind her back and she wore a sleeveless camisole shirt and linen capris. She was, all in all, cute for her age. And why did Robyn get the impression that she should recognize this girl?

“Satsuki,” that baritone voice from earlier again chastised lightly. “What did I say about leaving her be?”

The girl rolled her eyes and grinned down at Robyn from where she was still lying on the couch. Robyn suddenly remembered as the girl’s name finally registered. She had come to Sage’s home seeking shelter from the storm yesterday afternoon, had played cards with him when the power went out and had slept on the Date’s couch. So that meant that this girl standing over her was Sage’s younger sister and that the owner of that baritone voice was his father, Mr. Date.

“Oh man, this is embarrassing,” Robyn mumbled, wrapping the quilt around her shoulders so that the girl would not see the state of her old clothes. She looked past the girl towards the kitchen table and could barely make out a human body and newspaper, due to the kitchen counter obscuring most of her view. Looking back up at the girl in front of her, Robyn gave a small smile, “Hi, I’m Robyn.”

The girl smiled brightly. “I thought so. Sage hardly every mentions anything about school or girlfriends so I figured you were ‘that girl.’ Mom mentioned that she’d met you and thought you were nice and stuff,” the young girl said happily. “So what did you guys do yesterday with the power outage and the house to yourselves?”

Robyn blinked, dumbfounded. “E-e-excuse me?” she finally squeaked out, not liking the implication Sage’s sister was making.

“Satsuki,” her father said in a warning tone.

“But Dad! I just wanna see if they did anything better than cleaning up the dojo all day!” the younger girl complained. She then turned her attention back towards Robyn. “It was cool for a while, you know, when the power first went out. But then it got boring and there wasn’t really anything to do other than practice and you can only do so much in the dark.”

“Not true,” Mr. Date quipped from behind his newspaper.

“Anyway, when you’ve been practicing most of the day, it does get a little boring, even if you’re supposed to be disciplined and all. So what did you guys do?”

Robyn smiled, understanding that this was just something teenage girls do. Heck, even she and Kami still had conversations like this once in awhile, comparing sob-stories as it were. “Let’s see. I got caught in the storm on the way home obviously, and we tried to dry my clothes before the power went out—”

“That reminds me! The powers back on and so when you saw you on the couch, we figured your clothes were still wet. We dried them for you. They’re right here,” Satsuki interrupted, pointing to the pile of dry clothes on the end of the coffee table. Robyn nodded, thanking her.

The younger girl merely shrugged; “I’m sorry I interrupted. I just didn’t want to forget. So what else?”

Apparently, the younger girl was eager to hear details of what her ‘quiet, proper, gentlemanly’ brother had done. Robyn smiled, laughing softly. “I then helped put groceries away and made a sandwich.”

“What kind?”

Robyn laughed, “Nothing fancy; just a peanut butter sandwich.”

“Really? No jelly?”

Robyn shook her head, smiling at how frivolous and silly this conversation was becoming. “Nope, I don’t like jelly all that much.”

“I’ll have a PB and J over a plain peanut butter sandwich any day. You gotta have flavor! I mean, sheesh, I’d even take honey if jelly wasn’t available.”

Robyn gave the girl a curious look, “A peanut butter and honey sandwich?”

Satsuki nodded, “Yeah. There okay, I guess.”

“I’ll have to try that sometime, just to see if it tastes as odd as it sounds.”

“Hey! Do you wanna stay for lunch? It’s close to lunch time anyway and we can each have one!” Robyn smiled at the girl’s enthusiasm as she turned and asked her father if it was all right for their guest to have lunch with them.

Robyn looked over at the clock; it was a quarter after eleven in the morning, later than she had originally thought. And now that she thought about it, she didn’t see Sage anywhere. ‘Still asleep probably. He needs it though,’ she thought to herself. ‘I’ll have to thank him for carrying me downstairs too. Man, am I ever indebted to him.’

“I don’t want to impose anymore than I already have,” Robyn said, gaining both Satsuki and Mr. Date’s attention. She heard Mr. Date chuckle from his seat at the table as Satsuki shrugged her shoulders, saying “It’s no biggie.”

“Still, I feel kind of rude.”

“It’s not a bother, Robyn. Feel free to join Satsuki for lunch,” the older man said and Robyn could hear the smile in his voice. Sage had a really nice family, she concluded.

“So you’ll stay then?” Satsuki asked, giving Robyn an almost pleading look.

Laughing, she agreed and laughed even harder as the younger girl did a slight victory dance. “You laugh, but all I had to talk to yesterday was dad!”

Robyn heard Mr. Date’s chuckles as Satsuki explained how he just didn’t understand most of things that happened at school or whatnot. “Besides,” she said, bringing her voice down to a whisper. “I saw this cute guy in class the other day and I can’t talk to him-” she pointed at her father, “about it, can I? That’d be way too weird. And I haven’t gotten to talk to mom yet either.”

Robyn shook her head smiling, “I don’t think I’ll be much help there, though. I haven’t had much luck with guys and dating.”

Satsuki shrugged. “Better than nothing though, right? Oh, sorry! You probably want to get changed. The bathroom is the second door on the right down that way.”

“Thanks.” Robyn reached for her clothes while making sure that Satsuki wouldn’t be able to so the ripped shirt and pants, then covered the damaged clothing by hugging her clothes to her stomach.

“Oh! I’ll get the sandwiches started while you change!” Sastuki bounced off to the kitchen pantry after having said that, leaving Robyn to slowly make her way to the bathroom to change.

After changing, she looked at her reflection, blinking in surprise and turning her head slightly. There was hardly any discoloration on the side of her face from where Jayzen had hit her, though her cheekbone was sure sore. She hadn’t really thought about it when she’d woken up and probably wouldn’t have until she had started for home if she hadn’t accidentally brushed a hand across the tender area a few moments ago.

Sighing, she clutched the ripped clothing in her arms, wondering what she was going to do about Jayzen. She knew he would probably call and apologize, which was fine and all, but there had been something disturbing about him yesterday. Something…supernatural almost. He had been unnaturally strong, and Robyn was seriously beginning to believe that Joshua and the guys’ warnings had been justified. She just didn’t want to hear the ‘I told you so’ lecture…

Not only was she now going to have to figure out excuses to stop seeing Jayzen, she had this whole ‘prophecies’ thing to deal with too. Who could she ask about ‘prophecies’? Well, Mia knew a lot about prophecies…so might Mariko…

‘I’ll call Mariko later today,’ she decided, taking a deep breath and leaving the small bathroom. As she entered the kitchen area, she bumped into a fully-dressed Sage as he came down the stairs and rounded the corner. ‘Oh what a great way to start the day,’ she thought derisively as she felt her cheeks flush and apologized.

Sage merely nodded, steadied her and took the damaged clothes from where she held them bundled in her arms. He moved off towards the laundry room, to hide the clothes or dispose of them, at least that was her guess. Shrugging her shoulders, she entered the kitchen to find Satsuki finishing off the sandwiches and handing her a plate.

“I made you a plain peanut butter just in case you really didn’t like the peanut butter and honey one,” she explained as Robyn looked curiously at the two sandwiches on her plate compared to the one on Satsuki’s. The younger girl had also grabbed a large bag of potato chips.

“Thanks, but you didn’t have to. I would have been fine with just the one,” Robyn said, placing her plate at the table and sitting down, smiling at Mr. Date when he looked at her.

“I figured, but you are a guest,” Satsuki explained, turning to give her older brother a smile when he entered the kitchen. “Good morning! Or should I say afternoon? This is like the latest you’ve ever slept in!”

Sage threw a critical glance at his younger sister as he poured himself a glass of milk. “Something I don’t intend to make a habit of, believe me.”

Satsuki turned and whispered to Robyn behind one hand, “He can be so cranky sometimes.” Robyn tried desperately not to laugh aloud as Sage glared at his sister, clearly having heard her, while the girl merely smiled innocently at him.

Sage finally shook his head, leaning against the kitchen counter as he frowned slightly at his sister. “Don’t tell me you’ve been annoying Robyn since you got back,” he said in a tone that was a mixture of disapproval and teasing.

“I have not!” Satsuki declared indignantly. “We’ve been having a very good time, thank you very much.”

Sage gave them an all-knowing smirk and said in a patronizing tone to his sister, “I’m sure you have.”

Now annoyed with her older brother, Satsuki turned away the table and motioned for Robyn to follow her. “Come on, we’ll go upstairs where we can talk in private.”

Robyn hesitantly followed, politely excusing herself from the table and thanked Mr. Date for his hospitality. She found Satsuki waiting for her at the foot of the staircase, and to her surprise, the girl blew a raspberry at Sage before she clambered up the stairs. Robyn climbed the staircase in a more sedate manner, not wanting to slip and fall, and smiled when Satsuki led her to a room on the left side of the hallway.

“Sorry,” the younger girl apologized as she picked up a few clothes that had been carelessly discarded on the floor. “It’s a little messy. I normally clean it up if I expect someone to come over.”

Robyn shook her head, “It’s not that bad. And I have seen much worse. Trust me.” The younger girl laughed, agreeing with her as she plopped down on the floor and motioned for Robyn to do the same while she opened the bag of potato chips and placed a handful on her plate. Robyn had just sat down when Satsuki slapped a hand over her forehead, saying that she had completely forgotten about drinks.

After that, the day went by somewhat pleasantly. Robyn spent time with Satsuki, indulging the younger girl with companionship for an hour or so, but she finally excused herself, explaining how she really needed to get back home before Cye came and dragged her back. That got a laugh out of both Satsuki and Mr. Date, who wished her well.

To Robyn’s surprise, she found Sage waiting at the front door and as she went through the doorway, she heard him say to his father that he was going to meet the guys at Cye’s house. Robyn gave him a pouting look as he joined her on the sidewalk; “They’re going to bug me about where I was yesterday.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“You really won’t tell them will you?”

“If they ask, I’ll tell them what I told Cye.”

“Thank you.”

Silence fell among the two as they made their way to the Mouri house. The sun was shinning brightly with hardly a cloud in the sky, which was a drastic contrast to the storm late yesterday afternoon. Robyn glanced at Sage from the corner of her eye, before thanking him again for all that he had done for her. He simply nodded, looking at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the sidewalk in front of them.

“Sage…do you if Mariko or Mia know anything about prophecies that talk about Totoyami?” she asked after a few moments of silence. From the corner of her eye, she saw him stance stiffen slightly and he seemed cautious as he asked her why.

“That dream-eater last night mentioned prophecies, and then when I went to the astral plain and spoke to Astrea,” she paused seeing his doubtful look. “Don’t look at me like that,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “She said she was the keeper or watchperson of the planes or something like that. Anyway! She mentioned something about prophecies too. So, I’m wondering if we’re missing something important. That’s all.”

“We’ll call Mariko when we get to Cye’s. It’s about time she started explaining those ‘poems’ of hers,” was all he said and Robyn understood that he didn’t want to discuss the matter of prophecies until then. Worrying her lower lip, she idly wondered why Sage hadn’t said anything about these ‘poems.’ Had he thought that that was all they had been?

With a sigh, she walked next to the blonde kendo warrior in silence for a long while. Finally, she broke it again. “Your family was really nice, considering I stayed there the night and they’d never met me before. Your sister was fun too.”

He was silent for a moment, as if thinking of how to approach the topic. ‘And end it quickly’ she thought teasingly.

“Satsuki is the nice one of the two.”

“You mean, compared to your older sister?”

“There is no comparison. Satsuki is the nice one. Yayoi is…” he trailed off slightly.

Robyn smiled slightly, remembering that night she had been at Rowen’s place studying and Sage came over to hide from his older sister, more or less. “Perfectly mean? Evil? Devious?” Robyn provided, giving him a knowing smile. Sage chuckled slightly at that, obviously remembering too as he nodded in agreement.

Robyn’s smile grew wider when she remembered something from last night, and was able to get Sage talking about car racing. As he explained some of the rules about racing, Robyn felt like the bond friendship between them grow a little bit stronger.